Understanding II: School Daze
by Yemi Hikari
Summary: Having stayed with the Kurosaki's for a week, Toshiro decides that he will make an attempt to fit in. Unfortunatly for him and Isshin, he still has to deal with Karin.
1. Prolog

_Disclaimer – I don't own Bleach. This is a continuation of Understanding._

**Understanding II: School Daze  
**_**~Prolog~**_

_What if the neighbors report a silver haired elementary student burglar?  
~Renji~_

The early morning was calm and silent when Hitsugaya Toshiro woke up. He stared at Kurosaki Isshin's ceiling as he lay on the futon at the foot of the young man's bed. This allowed him to think in his mind and try to sort things out. The truth of the matter was that things weren't exactly straightening out in his mind. Then again, he had a week's worth roughly of bad luck which he hoped would get better.

It started with Aizen's betrayal and the fact that the person he grew up with and thought of as his sister felt that all of this was his fault. She said some things that were very hurtful to him, and had caused him to lose his usual mental calm which in turn made the decision to send him to the living world with the substitute soul reaper to come about.

It should have been something that should have been easy and not that bad, but Toshiro now had to think that he had come to make things difficult for himself. He had a problem wrapping around his emotions and keeping them locked inside. He had more mental breakdowns in a short period of time then he had in quite some time.

The last period of time in truth was possibly all the way back when he had seen his former taicho who had in fact turned out not to be dead. The man was actually the father of the substitute soul reaper. Toshiro had at first been hot headed with the man, but due to some circumstances he stopped to think about things and came to realize that his actions were in truth not very good ones.

After lying awake on the futon he had decided that he needed to try harder to try to fit in at the Kurosaki household then he had been. He got up from where he was before anyone else did and headed downstairs. When he got down there he began to pull out things out of the cupboard in the kitchen and began to set up to cook. Smells soon began to fill the kitchen drifting upstairs.

The first to come downstairs was the substitute shinigami who happened to rub his eyes sleepily. "Smells good Yu… Toshiro?"

"Is something the matter?" the boy asked. His mood rather seemed different from the way it had been the last few days.

Ichigo stared for a few minutes with wide eyes. "Yuzu does the cooking. This is just weird." This caused Toshiro to pause as he was scrambling the eggs in the pan. The teenager walked over and shook his head. "How many eggs did you put in… and bacon and toast too?"

"All of it…" the boy stated with his attitude rather on the calm side of things.

"Toshiro… there is only five of us. Even I know this is enough for two or three meals," Ichigo stated just as Yuzu came down the stairs with Karin. Yuzu rubbed her eyes. "Is Daddy having the meeting this early in the morning because he forgot to last night?"

"That is a first," Karin snorted. She then flinched. "If _Yuzu _is with me, then who is it that is cooking?"

"Toshiro," Ichigo stated, getting the milk out of the fridge, and setting the table.

"Oi! That's Yuzu's job!" The dark haired tomboy looked like she was ready to hurt the small taicho while her sister had a look of utter rejection.

"Sorry. I didn't know. Is it really fair to let her do the cooking all the time though?" Toshiro's comment caused Karin to flinch and hurry back up the stairs. He had the feeling that his words stung the preteen female big time. Yuzu looked like she was going to cry but bit back what she was going to say and simply headed over to see what Toshiro was doing.

Her eyes suddenly turned wide. "We can't eat all that! That isn't healthy!"

Toshiro reached up and scratched his head. "Usually when I cook I end up cooking a lot more than this."

"But… it's just you your sister and your grandmother. Daddy said so," the small girl frowned.

"They own a family restraint," Ichigo blurted out quickly covering for Toshiro.

"I'd love to see it some time! I think I might want to be a professional cook when I grow up," the girl stated as she clapped her hands together. Toshiro threw a glare at Ichigo. Both knew that this wasn't the truth.

"So… what is this meeting that your sisters are talking about," the small boy asked.

"The planning of family outings," Ichigo sighed.

"There is something planned today?" Toshiro began to dish the food onto serving plates.

"Before school starts up for the semester we go to the temple," Yuzu smiled just as Isshin came down stairs.

The man scratched his head. "Yuzu… I know we have two boys in the house but you didn't have to fix this much food."

"Gomenasai Isshin-san. I'm the one who cooked this morning. I miscalculated," the boy stated firmly.

"Well, you haven't eaten for a few days, so that is understandable," Isshin started up a pot of coffee.

"I thought it was because Toshiro-kun's family owns a restaurant," Yuzu's statement caused Isshin, who was in-between Toshiro and Ichigo, gave the smaller of the two a look of shock.

"Used to is the key word," Toshiro stated as his dragon laughed in the back of his head. The cold hard fact was that Toshiro's background story kept getting more and more complicated.

"It's nice to see you fitting in," Isshin smiled. "Where's Karin?"

"In her room sulking because Toshiro decided to cook instead of Yuzu and he made the comment it wasn't fair to make it so that Yuzu does all the cooking," Ichigo's statement caused Isshin to give the small charge an exasperated look.

_Author's note – This was written 6/1/2010. I'll post when I can, but who knows, as I am in the middle of a move with my family._

_2-7-2012 – I am slowly working my way through editing the chapters of this fanfic. I may make updates but between updates I feel I need to get some chapters up and fixed so the grammar is better._


	2. Forgotten

**Understanding II: School Daze  
**_**~Forgotten~**_

Isshin regretted giving the boy an exasperated look as he saw Toshiro give him a look back. The boy's jaw dropped before the small mouth twitched a few times, one side being a little higher than the other. Hitsugaya crossed his arms then let out a deep breath. "Look... I was _really _trying to fit in. I thought that if I did something around here to help things would be better. _What _exactly did I do wrong?"

Yuzu opened her small mouth to say something then closed it. Her father though raised an eyebrow that it might be a good idea not to say something. "Yuzu..."

"I'll see how Karin's doing then come back down to serve up the food," the small girl stated before hurrying up the stairs. Isshin moved behind the small boy and pulled a chair out from the table and pushed him down into the chair.

He then went over to the coffee maker and poured himself a cup of coffee sipping it as he walked back to the table. Hitsugaya had moved so that his head hung in his hands. He was staring dejectedly at the table. The man swallowed the sip of coffee."You just need to be yourself Toshiro, not worry about what anyone thinks."

Two teal eyes darted up to look the man in the face. The look wasn't a glare but one of a large amount of distress. "Say that again when I can be myself around your daughter Karin. When I've tried being myself I've ended up hit and other things."

"Ahh... hah...hah..." The corner of Isshin's mouth suddenly twisted up. "You have a point there."

Ichigo sat down in another chair backwards. "You didn't do anything wrong Toshiro. It's just that each of us has a role that we play around here. I watch out for the two girls and make sure that they're safe. Yuzu keeps track of the chores. Karin is the sane one."

One of Toshiro's hands dropped from his face with a bit of irritability in his voice. "Kurosaki, you do realize that you didn't mention your father _and _said that Karin was the sane one. "

"Toshiro... believe me when I say that Karin is rather sane and doesn't normally act like this," the teenager repeated only to have a white eyebrow raise up in disbelief. "I shouldn't have said she was the only sane one..."

"You finally realized that?" Isshin also raised an eyebrow. "Sometimes I wonder if you're my son."

"Sometimes I wonder if your actually my father," came the retort. This sent Isshin suddenly to the large picture of the Kurosaki family's dead mother. Both of the young males stared at the man. Toshiro felt his face twitch.

"Seriously. How am I going to survive living with you guys," the boy sighed only to have Ichigo tap him on the shoulder.

"Rukia survived," came the soft reply as the two girls suddenly came down the stairs. Both were wearing day clothing instead of their night wear.

Karin first glared at her brother who was leaning over Toshiro. Seeing her caused the boy to flinch again. His normal scowl twisted up into a smile in attempt to pacify her even though the feel of his expression felt fake. Her eyes then went to her father only to suddenly roll at her father's mortifying antics. "Dad... aren't we supposed to be planning for our trip today."

"Ahh! Yes!" Isshin had returned to semi normal and turned around. He slammed a fist into the palm of his hand. "I almost forgot!"

The man sat down in front of a plate of food that Yuzu had managed to place on the table. Everyone picked up utensils and began to eat. Ichigo drank from his drinking glass. "So... what is the plan."

"Yuzu is in charge of supplies! Karin is the navigator!" Isshin stated slamming the table this time and causing everything to slightly bounce with his over exuberance.

"And what about me old man?" the orange haired teen asked.

"You are... you're just there," Isshin stated suddenly scratching his head. He then noticed Toshiro staring at him with his eyes wide. "Something the matter kiddo?"

"_Why is it that taicho treats Kurosaki this way_," the boy muttered. After a whole week of disagreeing his dragon finally agreed.

"Daddy... Toshiro-kun's worried about what he's supposed to do!" Yuzu suddenly stated with her usual pouting face showing through as she stepped out of the kitchen from packing everything.

"He's the guest so he doesn't need to do anything," Isshin's mouth twitched realizing things were about to come back and bite him.

"More like he will get in the way again just like he did this morning," Karin stated coldly showing her rather irritated mood clearly. Both preteens were suddenly glaring at each other which caused the other three to tense up.

Toshiro spoke up. "I didn't do anything wrong! Would you just stop picking on me!"

Isshin slowly stood up and his huge hand suddenly started to ruffle the boy's white hair. "No... you didn't do anything wrong. You were simply trying to help."

The boy''s facial features soured and his lip twitched. "Please... stop... that..."

"Yeah... we all know how much of a narcissist you are," came Karin's retort. A smirk spread on her face filled with a small amount of malice.

Toshiro had been pushing away Isshin's hand way, when he flinched half way through. "N...n...nar...narcissist?"

The four Kurosaki's watched as the boy let out a groan and his head suddenly went and hit the table. His frustration became as apparent as Karin's intended malice. Around him they went about their business of getting ready. When they were finished Ichigo grabbed him by the back of his shirt and began to haul him after the group. Due to his level of comfort being broached Toshiro's eyes narrowed with irritation.

Ichigo dropped back with the young taicho to chat with him as the others moved forward. The orange haired teenager had a smirk on his face. "Seriously. Why did you cook that much food?"

"Why did you have to say that my family _owned _a restaurant?" The boy's words tumbled out and spittle flew. "I cook for my division."

"And how many members in your division do you have?" Kurosaki junior pushed his point forward.

"I have..." Toshiro paused finding the need to stand still for a bit before then muttered out his response. "You know... just because I did something like this, doesn't mean I am stupid, you know?"

"I didn't say that you were Toshiro. This is all new to you and your still under a great deal of stress. " Ichigo continued walking, with his hands behind his head. His attitude was rather mellow, and the small, white haired boy took a few seconds to catch up.

As he did the five of them began to walk up the stairs passing under the torii. The red gates loomed overhead. They came the the purification fountains to which Toshiro found himself flinching as he was uncomfortable about having to do this. It quickly became his turn to participate and he proceeded to lift the ladle.

He first washed his left then his right hand. He then ladled water into his left hand and used it to rinse out his mouth. Still feeling uncomfortable at a place like this he washed his left hand and then dumped the water onto his wrists. He glanced up and noticed that Karin was still glaring at let out a sigh wishing the girl would just give him a chance.

He followed over towards the saisenbako, as Isshin pushed a coin into the palm of his hand. One by one, the Kurosaki children made their prayers. His mouth curled in a twitch. "_Not only do I not know what this shrine is for, or if I agree with it, I don't know what to pray for._"

"_Some believe even if don't believe in the shrines deity, that if you pray at a place of prayer your prayers will still be heard by the one you want to hear. Though... it doesn't seem even you know what you believe yourself child_,"

Isshin suddenly pushed Toshiro forward and the boy tossed the coin in through the grate on the top of the box. He bowed twice and then clapped twice. "_What to pray for..._" He felt at his back Karin's eyes boring into his own. Closing his eyes he thought carefully. "_I guess the best thing to pray for is that Karin and I might actually like each other and finally get along._"

Toshiro made another bow then relaxed a bit as his dragon hummed contentedly in the back of his head. This didn't last long as Karin piped up. "Toshiro... did you finish the homework for school?"

_Author's note – Still in the process of moving. We've moved to the area that we will be living, but we still haven't gotten into a house. As you guys might see, this one required a bit of research, with the visit to the shrine too. A saisenbako, is the offering box at the shrine. Also, for those who asked why Toshiro cooked so much, it was because he's used to cooking for only himself, or his entire division when he does._


	3. Cram School

**Understanding II: School Daze  
**_**~Cram School~**_

"Toshiro... did you finish the homework for school?" Karin's comment caused the white haired preteen to look at her. Her arms were crossed and she almost looked smug as she did this.

The small, white haired boy turned towards her while his lip twitched. Facing the others after he finished at the shrine did not at all feel comfortable. "Oh shit."

Yuzu suddenly raised a hand to her mouth. "We're at a shrine! You shouldn't use such language!"

"I don't see a problem with it!" Isshin suddenly laughed with his hands behind his head.

"That is because you also don't see a problem with playing dominoes with gravestones," Ichigo muttered. He grabbed Toshiro by the shoulder. "How much of the school work did you get done?"

"I think... none of it..." came the reply. Two teal eyes refused to look either of the girls in the eyes.

"Toshiro. I told you... if you needed some help with school work you need only to ask," Karin muttered. "What is it with boys anyways?"

The small taicho turned to look at her. His face twisted up in a hurt fashion. A lot of what he wanted to say in truth would likely turn Karin against him. "No comment."

"Well... Karin and I can help you when we get back to the house," Yuzu smiled. "We both have finished ours already."

"So... are you ready to accept help now?" Karin stood with her arms folded along with a rather stern look on her face.

Toshiro's face paled at this. "_I didn't need her help before 'because' I can very well do it myself. This is majorly embarrassing._"

"Look. I'll help Toshiro finish. I mean... I've also finished my work." Ichigo grabbed the small taicho's shoulder and guided him away from the two girls.

"Hold it. Toshiro's in our class. We've already done the school work, Ichi-nii!" Karin began to protest her brother's decision much to Toshiro's dismay.

"Actually..." Isshin spoke up. "It's a school night and you two should be getting to bed as soon as possible. I would rather your brother help Toshiro out."

"But Toshiro gets to stay up," came Yuzu's protest.

"He's staying up to finish school work, not because I am letting him have fun. If he hadn't procrastinated on his homework he would be going to bed early, just like the two of you," Isshin gave the boy a look.

"Going to bed at an elementary school student time..." Toshiro found Ichigo slapping a hand over his mouth.

"Be glad I am the only one who heard you Toshiro," Ichigo was rather irritated with the small taicho. "Even if you are a captain, with the fact you're _still _growing, you really need to get as much sleep as possible, if you want to be healthy."

"I would rather take a nap," Hitsugaya muttered firmly.

"You do realize that most kids don't like nap-nap time?" Ichigo commented dryly.

"You've heard the saying, _children who sleep well, grow well_," came the retort.

"You _really _think backwards, you know that," the teenager sighed suddenly having Yuzu pop up beside him.

"Whats you and Toshiro-kun talking about, Ichi-nii," the small girl asked.

"Nothing..." both boys stated, getting guilty looks on their faces. Karin caught onto this look, without them realizing.

**M**

Stepping into Kurosaki Ichigo's room Hitsugaya Toshiro felt a great weight on his shoulders as he glanced at the desk. He paused in the doorway only to have the substitute soul reaper push on by him. He watched as the the teenager walked over to the desk and began to glance through everything. Toshiro felt the need to speak up. "You don't need to help me you know."

"The work will get done faster if there is two of us," Kurosaki took a good look at what homework there was to be done.

"I don't see how both of us can do the school work when it needs to be my own," The response came as the small boy walked over and sat down in the chair.

"Start with this," Ichigo placed a stack of math sheets in front of him. "While your doing that, I'll read out loud to you."

"Are you sure that is a good idea?" Toshiro grabbed a pen from the pencil holder, only to have Ichigo forcibly exchange it for a pencil.

"Look. I know you read a _l__ot _faster then me but these books are basic kanji. They should take me the time it takes you to read one of those Shakesphere books to read outloud. Make sense now?" Ichigo himself grabbed one of the books and flopped down on the bed.

"Yeah. Wish I didn't have to do this stupid stuff," Toshiro muttered, then paused, glancing at Kurosaki. "Thank you for helping me out with this."

"You're welcome. We're both in for a long afternoon, maybe even night," Ichigo then began reading the book. They kept up a steady pace and only took a break between the books or every few chapters. Hitsugaya would then complain about the books chosen and how overly simply and boring they were. The door clicked open and one of Ichigo's younger sister's peeked in. "What do you want Karin?"

"Yuzu sent me up with your guys supper." The dark haired girl walked over to the desk and placed the trey. "Are you sure that you don't want to just copy mine and Yuzu's school work Toshiro?"

"No..." Toshiro's teal eyes were tunnel visioned upon the paper based school work. A few minutes after Karin had shut the door the boy's head popped up with a look of confusion. "Did she just say that I could _just _copy her work? Isn't that cheating?"

"Actually, quite a few people up into high school do it," Ichigo scratched his head.

"You say that like it's a good thing!" Toshiro turned his head as his eyes grew wide.

"It's not as if they copy on essays or tests or things like that. Some people copy because that is how they learn better; by copying some one else work. Others copy after they finish their work to make corrections. Others work together on the homework. Sometimes someone forgets the homework," Ichigo stated.

"I still don't think it is right." Toshiro paused as his eyes narrowed. "I wouldn't exactly feel comfortable letting people copy my work. When I was in the academy back in soul society there people saw me as an easy means for an easy grade. Some even wanted me to do the work for them."

"Did you let them do that?" Ichigo stated.

"No... but I also had the advantage of being the top of all the classes including kido and sword fighting. When I said no people took it as a definite answer. I still don't like being used," Hitsugaya stated firmly.

"But if someone asked to copy your notes what would you say to them," Ichigo asked.

"That would have been different. That would have been nice. But that was something... " A memory flowed passed Toshiro's min, as he remembered watching Momo with her academy friends exchanging notes and sometimes copying when one had been ill.

Ichigo reached out and shook the small boy's shoulder. "You all right."

"I would have been nice to have friends like Hinamori did. She was always checking notes with her friends and talking about the classes they took. The only person I ever hung out with at the academy... it was more of a competition between us."

"I'm sorry I made you think about your sister." Ichigo moved to sit on the desk.

"Can we finish this please..." Two teal eyes reflected a deep sadness. "_If Hinamori had asked I would have let her take a look at my notes or borrow them even. She ignored me when we were in academy and pretended that I wasn't there. Much like she is now._"

**M**

Glancing at the clock Ichigo noticed it was getting late. At two o-clock in the morning he had finished reading the last book. "Toshiro, what do you have left to do?"

"Just... the summary for... that book." The small taicho's words were beginning to slur together. "Stupid book."

"Ahh. Are you going to include that in your summary for your teacher." The teen let out a soft chuckle.

Looking at the other male in the room through bleary eyes the white haired youth piped up. "_Can _I write that?"

"I don't think that is a good idea." Ichigo watched as Toshiro's head bobbed down a bit. Ichigo had taken time to eat his dinner but Toshiro hadn't touched his. "I didn't think it would take you this long to finish."

"Boring..." came the muttered reply as the small hand finished scribbling something down before slamming his notebook shut. "Mind numb..."

With that Toshiro's head slammed down onto the desk and a small snore filtered up. Ichigo gave a small smile,and grabbed a blanket from the closet and spread it over the child's shoulders. He then clicked the light off letting out a yawn himself.


	4. Monday

**Understanding II: School Daze  
**_**~Monday~**_

Much to the small taicho's dismay he found himself woken up to the loud, blaring cacophony of so called music from the living world. He sat up from where he had fallen asleep at the desk and felt his heart thud in his chest. He glanced to the side in time to see Ichigo sit up and let out a huge yawn. Toshiro opened his mouth to say something only to have the words refuse to come out.

Ichigo turned his head to look into the boy's teal eyes. "Toshiro... are you all right?"

"That noise..." Toshiro glanced around trying to figure out where the loud music was coming from.

The teenager scratched his head realizing what the problem was. "Sorry... that's an alarm clock. It helps me get up in the morning. Though truth be told it doesn't always work."

Two small hands suddenly clapped over two small ears. "Kurosaki... it's too loud. Why this early in the morning? I normally wake up when my body tells me too."

Ichigo pushed the sheets away and got up off the ground. "We've got to go to school, remember? You can't sleep in."

"I don't normally sleep in. I usually wake up at the break off dawn." Toshiro placed a hand over his eyes. "Can't I just go back to bed?"

"No..." Ichigo walked over and yanked on the back of the small taicho's shirt in order pulling him up out of bed.

"Owe... my neck," Toshiro reached up in an attempt to rub a crick that had suddenly occurred. The only thing he managed was a stifled yawn which prevented him from really doing anything to ease the pain.

Ichigo let go and began to rummage around some bags before shoving some clothes into Toshiro's arms. "You are going to take a nice hot shower in order to _try _to wake up. Got it?"

"I..." Toshiro tried to say something but found himself shoved into the bathroom by the orange haired teen. He blinked a couple of times before stepping over to the shower and turned it on. He stepped over to the sink and tried to splash some cold water in his face while the shower heated up. "Life sucks... I really don't want to do this."

He began to strip himself of his night cloths and tossed them precariously to the ground. As he pulled his shirt over his head he glanced groggilly into the mirror. He paused half way in the task of removing the article of clothing. "Taicho... I really don't want to do this."

Toshiro finnished stripping and stepped into the shower. As he stepped onto the hard, wet surface he almost let the hot water run down his stiff muscles. He leaned up against the shower wall wishing that the whole thing would just go away. "_I am really dreading this..._"

"_At least you can now talk to Matsumoto and the others via soul phone," _his dragon said.

The white haired preteen let the water run over his shoulders and he quickly lost track of the time that he was in there. He tried to wake up and tried to focus his mind to being inclined towards the dreaded task he would be setting out to do today. His head darted up when he heard the door open. His mind was fuzzy as it tried to process what was going on. Thinking it was Ichigo coming to check on him he spoke up in response. "Look... I'll be out soon..."

The next thing he heard was footsteps beating on the floor. A swirling sound was heard much like the sound water made when it was rushing somewhere at a fast pace. When this sound came he also felt the hot water in his shower suddenly turn burning hot. He let out a scream and his small hand instinctively reached up for the shower curtain in an attempt to prevent himself from falling backwards and hurting himself. There was a hug crashing noise as the shower rod dislodged from the wall and fell on top of him.

The white haired child was stuck in a sitting position with the curtain going from one shoulder to in between his legs. His two teal eyes went up from his embarrassing position to see exactly who the culprit was. He found his cheeks turning a deep red."Kurosaki!"

Ichigo came into the bathroom and quickly shoved his small dark haired sister out of the room. He then closed the door and walked over to turn off the water. He watched as Toshiro's chest rose and fell from the major stress his mind was going through. The substitute shinigami grabbed a towel and tossed it at the boy. He then looked Toshiro up and down carefully to make sure the boy wasn't hurt. "Toshiro... you do know you're freezing the water around your body?"

Toshiro began to move and brushed off the thin layer of ice that was trying to form on the top of his skin. A hand reached down to help him up. Before Toshiro took the hand he quickly wrapped the towel around his waist. "This sucks. Every time I turn around she's trying to get me."

"It's not your fault," Ichigo sighed before glancing away. "Are you any more awake then you were?"

"Yeah. No thanks to Karin," Toshiro leaned against the bathroom sink with his palms on the counter. His teal eyes looked up and caught a glimpse of his reflection in the mirror. The look on his face suddenly twisted up as if something pained him. He pulled back his fist and swung it with forward momentum at the mirror. Ichigo though quickly grabbed his hand.

"Toshiro... what are you doing?" Ichigo glanced first at the boy and then at the mirror before glancing back. "No smashing things. Dad does it enough all ready."

"Sorry..." Two teal eyes glanced away hoping the physically older boy wouldn't notice the look of shame that passed across his face. "I'll just get dressed." The small taicho paused for a few seconds. "Could you not tell your dad about this? At least not right away. I want to try to talk to Karin and handle this myself."

"All right," Ichigo left the small taicho to his own devices. Toshiro carefully pulled his clothes on before heading down the stairs. Karin sat at the table muching on cereal.

The small taicho grabbed the chair closest to her and pulled it out to sit in it backwards. "Why?"

"What do you mean?" Karin asked. She continued to munch on her cereal.

"Why did you do that to me?" Toshiro stated firmly.

"Because you were in the shower too long." Karin buttered a piece of toast.

"Maybe I needed it..." Toshiro hissed angrily.

"Yeah. You are a narcissistic bastard aren't you?" The girl took a bite of her toast.

Toshiro found himself wanting to get in her face about what was going on. "I don't like being picked on!"

"And I am not trying to bully you!" Karin pulled away not likely the fact he was indeed getting closer. "Seriously. Are you ready for school yet? You don't look it."

"I'm dressed aren't I?" the boy snapped back.

Yuzu found that it was her turn to pipe up. "But... where is your backpack? Is it packed yet?"

The small taicho stared at them with a blank expression that indicated his confusion. Ichigo however grabbed his shoulder. "Come on Toshiro."

The substitute soul reaper pulled the small boy up the stairs and grabbed a piece of toast and shoved it into the white haired boy's mouth. When they got up to Ichigo's room the preteen found himself shoved over to the desk. The teenager spoke up. "What do you think that you would need to pack for school?"

Toshiro blinked a couple of times until the teen placed a brand new desk in front of him. He began by putting his books into the bad. He was about to stick writing utensils into his bag when Ichigo shoved a box into his hands. "Isn't it a bit odd, to carry that stuff lose in a backpack?"

"Yes... I didn't know what that was for,." the boy packed the rest of the things he would need from the desk. "Is there anything else that I would need to pack?"

"Not that I can think of," Ichigo stated. "You need to get going so you aren't late. Actually... the same goes for me."


	5. School Grounded

**Understanding II: School Daze  
**_**~School Grounded~**_

Isshin sat at the kitchen counter drinking a cup of coffee. His eyes picked up the whole debacle between the two preteens. His ears discerned the words _shower _and _narcissistic __bastard_. While he didn't want to know what happened this time he still felt the need to set down his morning cup. "Karin... what happened between you and Toshiro?"

The small girl suddenly glanced up with irritation on her face. "Nothing..."

"I'm your dad. I know something happened!" Isshin pointed to his eyes making it clear that he had an idea that something was going on.

"Fine. I pranked him by flushing the toilet when he was in the shower." Karin glanced at the wall in an attempt to avoid getting in trouble. "I didn't mean for him to pull the shower curtain down on himself."

This caused Isshin's eyes to suddenly widen. "Karin... you could have seriously hurt him with your prank!"

"That it though! It was just a prank!" the girl stated. "He blew it way out of proportion!"

"Normally it would be the girl who would be upset about being seen without their clothes on," Isshin muttered.

"And that is why he is a narcissistic bastard," Karin said aloud causing her father to glare at her. "He spends more time in the bathroom... even _looking_ in the mirror... then any girl I know."

"And you don't know many," Isshin stated firmly. "Listen to me carefully kiddo. Toshiro is rather sensitive about certain things. Be careful what you say to him and what you do. He might take it the wrong way."

Karin simply shut her mouth and glared away. Yuzu though piped up. "We have to get going! It's almost time for school!"

"We're off dad," Karin hurried to the door and grabbed her bento from the counter.

"Wait! Can't you two wait for Toshiro before you go!" Isshin asked as the girls hurried out the door.

"But... I always walk with Karin!" the girl suddenly stated. "She's all ready going!"

Her father let out a sigh as the door clicked shut. Karin and Yuzu though were hurrying fast. The school was nearby and thus they could get there quickly. A good deal of the other students were standing around letting time pass before school started. If they weren't doing this they were running around in the playground playing various games. The games varied depending on the age of those playing.

Karin glanced around and to noticed that three boys were picking on some of the younger kids there. The three boys were very familiar faces. Kaneda was the boy who weighed the most in her class and Ino's glasses were very distinctive. But the one that stood out the most was Hashigami with his messy brown hair and freckles.

She stormed over just as Hashigami grabbed something from the younger boy. "I don't know why you guys bring these cards to school when you are too little to understand the basics of the game! Hell,... I don't even know why you buy this. Might as well take it off you, huh?"

"Hashigami..." The sound of Karin's voice caused the three to suddenly look up at her. While his two friends suddenly shook and looked away Hashigami glared at Karin.

"You know Kurosaki that nobody likes you, right?" the boy stated.

Karin though held her ground. "That isn't the point! Give that kid back his stuff!"

"Fine," the boy grumbled and began to hand back the item. He suddenly changed direction and out of anger used both hands to push Karin hard against her chest area. The darker haired Kurosaki twin fell to the ground and found her face wrinkling with furry. Her hand clenched into a fist and she moved to get up and tackle the boy.

There was a suddenly blur and a loud clicking sound followed by a thump as Hashigami himself ended up on the ground. A good deal of the other students were starting to gather around. Karin blinked a couple of times and then realized that Hitsugaya Toshiro was standing there. The white haired child glared angrily at the boy and his fist was still cocked from the punch he had lobbed at the other boy.

"What the hell," Hashigami glared at the newcomer. "What was that for!"

"Don't touch girls there," Toshiro said angrily. His eyes suddenly having a light in them that would have frightened most of his division members into listening to him. The brown haired boy had a lack of sensibilities to him. He stood up with a frown on his face.

"I don't know who you are but Karin isn't a girl," the boy stated. Hashigami suddenly attempted to throw a punch at the white haired preteen. To the boy's frustration Toshiro simply dodged to the side which ended up making him even more angry.

A rather upset Yuzu clutched her hands. "Toshiro-kun! You really shouldn't be fighting at school!"

As she said this the brown hair boy suddenly tackled Hitsugaya to the ground. The other boy tried to pummel at Toshiro with his fists. The small taicho countered this move by holding his arms over his face rather then punching back at the other boy. Before he could do anything other then that a couple of teachers came running out of the school.

As they pulled the two boys apart the vice principle walked out of the school. "What have we have here? You are all ready causing trouble on your first day?" A look of huge disgust passed over Toshiro's face as he looked at the man. "In the office both of you."

Karin watched as Toshiro shrugged off the teacher's hand and began to walk to the office area. Students hurried off to their classes. She suddenly caught up with him. "Toshiro... are you seriously trying to get in trouble on your first day? I can very well take care of myself and I don't need you to stand up for me."

"I know you can. That wasn't the point. You are a girl and he shouldn't have done that," the boy stated in a soft manner so that the teachers heard nothing of the conversation. "Go take care of your sister. She's out there freaking out."

The darker haired of the twins watched as he disappeared. She suddenly felt a tug from her sister. "Karin! What if Toshiro gets suspended or expelled?" This caused Karin to let out a sigh.

_Author's note – I know this chapter was short but I couldn't get the chapter longer then I wanted and cut it off at the point I wanted to._


	6. Standing Up

**Understanding II: School Daze  
**_**~Standing Up~**_

In the office Hashigami and Toshiro sat in the chairs. The vice principle turned towards them having picked up the paper work to make his report. "Now tell me... what happened?"

"He just came after me for no reason," the freckled boy stated turning to glare at Toshiro before shutting his mouth tight. Hitsugaya was also keeping his mouth shut about the whole matter.

"You aren't going to try and defend yourself?" the man said as he tapped the papers with his hand.

"No... don't see the point." Toshiro continued to simply stare straight ahead with his hands in his pocket. His backpack sat to the side where he dropped it.

"Good... because I am quite sure you are completely at fault," the man stated. He went behind the desk and suddenly scribbling down what he wanted too.

Hashigami turned towards the white haired boy with a sneer on his face. "You are mondo stupid! I mean! I would be thinking up a lie right now!"

"You mean like you just did?" Toshiro stated. His tone was rather monotone. "Also, thank you for pointing out your crude opinion."

"Crude?" the other boy suddenly snapped out. Hashigami made to attack Toshiro again only to find himself freezing when he looked the boy straight in the eye. The teal eyes of the other boy had a coldness about them that made even some adults kid happened to turn around letting out a loud humph. "I'm not going to do anything about your smart ass because I'm better then you."

"So. You are really backing down because you are afraid." Toshiro was again looking straight forward.

"Hey! Are you trying to bait me?" the boy snapped back.

"No. You've just walked into everything I've said." Toshiro suddenly folded his arms behind his head. He startled when someone came hurrying through the door.

"Toshiro!"

Two teal eyes blinked back their surprise. "What are you doing here Kurosaki?"

"I want to talk to the principle's secretary," the girl stated as her dark eyes watched the boy suddenly bristle.

"I don't need your help..." the boy muttered out.

"You might not need my help but you don't deserve to get punished while he doesn't either" Karin stated firmly. She walked over to where the female secretary was busy typing up some reports. The woman paused for a bit and then stood up.

"I've called your guardian Hitsugaya-kun." the vice principle stated. "I told him everything." He watched as the boy flinched and paled at what was going on. He then turned to the other boy. "I think you can go back to class."

"I don't think so," the female secretary spoke up causing the man to flinch. "I am unfortunately going to have to rewrite those reports. Punishment can wait until the principle gets here."

"The fact are simple," the man spurted out only to have the woman grab the papers from him.

"I will be calling up the other kids parents. While both should be suspended the one at fault is the one you were willing to let go," the woman stated firmly before going back to her desk.

"That can't be! He never said he didn't do it!" the man stated.

"Hitsugaya-san also never admitted to doing anything either. He merely said he wouldn't argue his own case. Kurosaki here did that for him," the woman stated.

"You trust her word? She is an absolute troublemaker!" the man stated.

"You could ask Yuzu you know. The reason she's not here is so she isn't late for class and because I told her I can handle this myself. She's worried that he'll be unfairly punished," Karin stated firmly.

"He was still in a fight!" the man roared out with his anger quickly rising.

"Yes, and I am going to _tan _his hide!" came the response from the door. Isshin stood in the doorway with his arms crossed. "I am rather disappointed in you Toshiro. I mean, you had to go and pick a fight with a kid for no reason. Let me guess. He made fun of your height, your hair? I am going to make your days miserable until your suspension is over."

"Dad..." Karin suddenly tugged on his sleeve.

"Not now sweetie," her dad stated.

"Dad!" Karin suddenly lost her temper and kicked her father hard causing the man to let out a yelp of pain. "Toshiro didn't get into a fight because someone made fun of him. He was standing up for me."

"What..." the vice principle blinked a couple of times.

"Karin, it is nice that you are finally trying to be nice to Toshiro but he knows as well as I that you can take care of yourself. There wouldn't be a reason for him to need to stand up for you." The man grabbed Toshiro by the ear and began to drag him out the door.

"Dad... wait!" Karin grabbed her own father's ear and whispered a few things into his ear which caused Isshin to let go of Toshiro's ear. His eyes suddenly went wide and then his eyes had anger flashed across them. He then turned towards the other boy with anger in his voice. "Don't _ever _let me hear about you touching _either _of my girls that way."

"Why? I know how immature you are! I've seen it! You going to beat up a little kid?" Hasigami blurted out.

"Oh, I don't have to worry about that. Toshiro and Karin-chan can take care of you themselves. I'll just make sure you receive the worst punishment you can for sexually harassing another student," Isshin stated.

"It was an accident!" the boy stated firmly.

"It was _not _an accident," Toshiro stated. "I saw you bullying a kid smaller then yourself and even taking stuff from them. Karin stood up to you, then you pushed her. If it had been a game, maybe. But it wasn't it wasn't a game. And even if it was a game you crossed the line when you said you could touch her there because she doesn't act like other girls."

The vice-principle felt his mouth twitching a bit. The secretary spoke up. "I told you that there was more to this. I think that the normal punishment would be to suspend Hitsugaya for the rest of the day and to suspend the other student for three days."

"That isn't fair! All we did was fight!" the other boy protested.

"No. She's right. While you both got into fights you also stole another students stuff not to mention you inappropriately touched another student." The vice principle pinched his nose. He then glared at Isshin. "I hold that I was not wrong about him getting into trouble on his first day."

"What ever," the man stated firmly. "Come on Toshiro. Lets get going. Get to class Karin."

The boy made a quick bow to the other people in the room and turned on his heals smartly. He followed closely behind the man as they headed away from the school. Toshiro quickly noticed that his former taicho was not heading towards the house. "Hey... Taicho... we're are we going?"

"Just a bit," the man stated suddenly stopping in front of an ice-cream parlor.

"But... I got in trouble..." Hitsugaya couldn't help but give his taicho a confused look.

"Yes... you did. And I really shouldn't be doing this because on top of making me take time out of my work I also know you don't want to go to school," the man stated. "However, while you need to be punished for doing the wrong thing, the fact is you didn't purposefuly try to get out of class and you went out of your way to stand up for Karin even though you knew it would get you in trouble. You do deserve a treat."

"I'm not a little kid who needs to be rewarded." Toshiro put his hands into his pocket.

"Everyone needs to be recognized for what they do right even if it doesn't matter much to them," Isshin stated. "Plus... think of it as also a reward for taking a step towards your goal of getting to go home even though you still have a long way to go."

"You really think so?" A small smile spread on the boy's face. His suddenly face fell as his mind driffed to many different things.

"Yeah." Isshin stated, opening the door to the ice-cream parlor.

_Author's note – Well, it has been a little over two months since I have updated this one fanfic.  
__**Poll –**_I have a poll right now for what fanfics of mine you guys happen to want updated. :)


	7. Digging In

**Understanding II: School Daze  
**_**~Digging In~**_

Toshiro sat down in the parlor chair watching as people move around. While the place was more modern then the place in soul society it had an air of familiarity to the room. Isshin sat down across from hi, as the boy swung his bag down beside the chair. Toshiro closed his eyes and felt the cool of the room. He found himself enjoying the atmosphere.

"So, how long has it been since you've given yourself a chance to have a bit of fun, a chance to relax persay?" Isshin asked firmly.

Toshiro's eyes snapped open. "I still take naps every day after I finish the paperwork."

"You and your naps," Isshin let out a mellow laugh and found himself glad that one thing had stayed the same.

"You know why I believe that." The preteen suddenly piped up as his face twisted into a serious scowl.

"Its good for you to get plenty of sleep so you are healthy. It is a proven fact that children need to sleep longer then adults because they are still growing," Isshin watched as Toshiro still scowled at him. "I know you don't like being referred to as a kid, but you are one."

"You're one of the few people I think I don't mind bringing that up," Toshiro muttered.

"Then whatever is the problem?" Isshin shook his head in disbelief.

"You are _laughing _at me," the boy stated firmly.

This caused the man to let out a sig, as his fingers tapped at the table. "Are you being serius right now or are you trying to pull my leg by being sarcastic?"

"You thought it was funny that I still take naps," came the firm and somewhat irritated reply.

"I thought it was funny that your naps was the first thing that popped into your head when I asked how long it has been since you've had a chance to relax. I included having fun in there. I know for a fact not all your naps are fun. I should remember better then anyone that you sometimes have daymares," Isshin stated firmly.

"It's been awhile. I can't very well remember the last time I had a daymare or a nightmare," Toshiro stated firmly. He closed his eyes thinking for a bit. "I think the last time I had fun was my last birthday. Momo..."

Isshin watched as the boy's eyes snapped open. Toshiro's eyes revealed that he was rather aware of what he had just said. There was both pain and shock written over his face. Toshiro then glanced at the ground. The man spoke up. "Try and think of it this way. How about we make it so that you have a good memory to think back on; a recent good memory."

"I guess," Toshiro began to fidget with the tablecloth.

"What kind of ice cream do you want?" Isshin asked causing Toshiro's head to suddenly bob up.

"Umm..." The white haired preteen suddenly blinked a couple of times. "This is why I don't like coming. There are a lot of options."

"Take your time," the man stated firmly.

"But... you've got to get back to the clinic," Toshiro fidgeted again. He glanced up at the sign. "I'll go with mint."

"You sure?" Isshin got up.

"I... maybe... that is what I want this time," the boy affirmed. His teal eyes watched as the man got up and placed an order at the counter.A few minutes later Isshin came back with two cold treats. He gingerly took his mint flavored treat. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," the man stated. "As I said, you deserve to have a bit of fun; more often then you let yourself. It's no wonder you had a mental break down like you did."

Toshiro didn't at first say something in respons, and instead took a spoon and dug in. When he put some ice cream into his mouth he closed his eyes and savored the taste. Isshin simply began to dig into his own and watched the small taicho carefully. Toshiro finally opened his eyes and then followed suit with digging in and watching the older Kurosaki.

"So... how is it that you were able to balance out your job as a taicho and yet still have fun without people wondering about your... ability to take care of things and thinking that you weren't too childish to do your job?" the preteen shingami asked.

"I don't really know so I can't give you an awnser on that one Toshiro," Isshin tapped his spoon on the clear bowl. "I've never really worried about what other people thought of me. Do you really worry about what people think of you?"

"I kept telling myself that no, I don't care what people think," Toshiro sighed and continued to eat his treat. "But truth is... I'm starting to think I do care. I don't like the idea of being rejected."

"You know that you don't have to worry about me ever rejecting you right?" The man gave him a smile only to have Toshiro pause half-way through his eating.

Setting down his spoon Toshiro glanced at the table. "I should know that no matter what I do you'll be out there looking out for me. But... I still find myself questioning if that is actually true. I _really _messed up on my first day of school and I don't think I set a good impression with anyone."

"You know it is all right to tell me exactly how you're feeling, don't you?" Isshin watched the boy blink a couple of times. "I also think a few people have a good impression of you. The principle's secretary for one."

"I feel like it is soul reaper academy _all _over again. At academy, even after I prooved that I could very well handle myself I ended up only having one person make an attempt to make friends with me," Toshiro watched the man's face and then continued. "Before you even suggest me trying to be the first one to make friends I'll tell you that just won't work."

"Why not?" the man finished his ice cream.

"I _can't_," Toshiro stated firmly. "I _don't _know how to act my age and nobody likes a kid who acts like an adult. I've rather gotten used to that fact. Is that why your daughter hates me?"

Isshin couldn't help but let out a laugh. "I don't think Karin hates you. She's not exactly... she has her own social problems."

"I don't get it. I really don't," came the response through a mouthful of food.

Isshin reached over and ruffled Toshiro's hair. "Some thing take time and that is part of growing up. Don't rush yourself."

_Author's note –  
__**Contests – **__The Halloween one ends on the 30th.  
__**Poll – **__Poll is refreshed for the half-month._


	8. Other School

**Understanding II: School Daze  
**_**~Other School~**_

Kurosaki Ichigo walked into his high school with his bag swung over his shoulder like he normally did. Things seemed to have returned to normal at school. By that it was the norm that was there before Kuchiki Rukia even came into his life. The truth was he felt as if something were missing and that this wasn't really his norm.

Someone popped up beside him trying to say 's fist popped up before Keigo could finish whatever stupid thing he was going to try and say. Ichigo blinked a couple of times before he glanced back and the young man. "You know... why is it that you always walk into my punches?"

The young man blinked a couple of times while rubbing the bridge of his nose. There was at first no response from the young man. "So, what did you do for the summer Ichigo?"

"What do you mean, what did I do for the summer?" the teenager was a bit perturbed about the whole thing. If Keigo was more normal then he would have made a response to Ichigo's question.

"Oh, come on! We're friends so you can tell me!" the young man stated only to have Orihime walk up.

"I'm sorry I didn't stop by Kurosaki-kun. How's Toshiro-kun doing?" the female stated as they walked over to a couple of desks.

"He..." Ichigo found himself interrupted rather quickly by a rather loud and boisterous female.

"What is this about my Hime-chan going to your house!" Chizuru muttered. "Who is this Toshiro guy?"

"He's a child genius that Ichigo's father is foster caring for right now," came a sudden remark from Uryu. "I've been wondering how he's been doing to. Of course... I didn't want to go to your house simply because I want nothing to do with you Kurosaki."

"Yeah... yeah... I get it all ready Uryu," Ichigo let out a sigh as he tried to get his books and homework unpacked.

"So... what is this kid like? How come you and your dad didn't mention it during the festival?" Tatsuki asked suddenly sitting down near her childhood friend.

"Uh... well," Ichigo found himself rather startled at all the questions. He could have easily said that they didn't know they would be taking care of another at the festival because that was the honest truth. Interruptions kept coming before he could say anything.

"I wouldn't think that Kurosaki would put up with little kids," Chizuru commented.

The person to speak up next was Mizuiro which caused Ichigo to shake his head at the number of people suddenly surrounding him. "Sure, Ichigo has the tough guy rep but he also has two little sisters. If you really want to see him go off you just need to mess with either one of them."

"Guys..." Ichigo shook his head at the complexity of the whole situation and the fact that he would rather they talk about something else.

"So... what's this kid like?" Tatsuki asked as her curiosity got the better of her.

"He's around the age of Karin-chan and Yuzu-chan and he has white hair and green eyes," Orihime stated firmly.

"Poor Orihime. You're in your own world again."Chizuru found herself being slammed by Tatsuki's elbow as soon as she spoke the words.

"Actually, Toshiro's hair is actually very pale and he does have teal eyes. He's not very fond of the way he looks so could we talk about something else?" Ichigo persisted.

"But what is he like?" Keigo repeated Tatsuki's question.

"Didn't you hear me that he's a child genius?" Uryu said as his tone became irritated having to repeat something.

"If he's a child genius then why is he not here?" Mizuiro asked firmly.

"Believe me. Toshiro would be here rather then where he is if he had a choice in the matter. My dad though... because Toshiro is with us so he can learn to be with his peer group age wise... stuck him into the same class as my two sisters," Ichigo stated.

"Can I come over and see him after school?" Orihime asked rather quickly.

The substitute shingami shook his head at her. "He's got to get through today at school. I don't think he's going to be up to talking to anyone. I mean, he threw a fit about... a lot of things including being stuck in elementary school."

"So... how is Toshiro doing?" Chad asked as he came into the room .

"Mad at the world and life in general. I don't blame him as it's been one thing after another," the substitute shingami stated. He wished to avoid questions all together Hand was thankful when the bell rang. Everything worked out normally. he soon found his substitute shingami badge going off on him.

"Ahh! Ms. Oichi! My stomach hurts! Can I go to the restroom!" Ichigo stated firmly before taking off without her having a chance to react. He hurried off only to find Uryu right behind him. "What are you doing?"

"You do realize that your sense is one of the worst horrible to tracking hollows?" Uryu stated firmly.

"So?" The substitute shingami gave him a dirty look. "What about it?"

"How did you find hollows before?" came the response

"Rukia and I used her soul phone," came the quick response back.

"And she's not here?" Uryu continued commenting.

"Yeah... I guess I could use Toshiro's?" the substitute soul reaper stated.

"He's in class and elementary school class that he couldn't easily bring out such an object. Plus, by that time I can easily take care of the hollow," Uryu stated.

"You _really _get on my nerves," the young man stated.

"Leave it to a shingami not to be able to think things through and use brute force," the other teen stated.

_Author's note – I have a reason for going back to Ichigo here... sixteenth fanfic to reach over fifty reviews._


	9. Hollow Follow

_**Understanding II: School Daze  
~Hollow Follow~**_

Both teenagers arrived at the scene where the hollow was due to having similar speed. Ichigo began to charge forward with his sword to launch a melee attack, only to have what seemed to be an arrow shoot out and cut through the mask. Ichigo turned towards the Quincy. "Oi...that was mine!"

"You need to learn to be faster Kurosaki?" Uryu cocked his eyeglasses, pushing them further up his nose. The look on his face made it clear that he wasn't at all concerned with the fact Ichigo hadn't found the ability to act in a quick manner a problem of his.

"This is why I don't want to work with you!" the substitute soul reaper snapped. He tapped his foot on the ground with his zampaktuo swung over his shoulder and a frown upon his face.

"Then just leave the job to me," Uryu moved over to where Ichigo was. His voice filled with lecture. "That, or learn how to sense hollows..."

"Shut up." The orange teen began to walk off. The direction however wasn't towards the high school. Of course, the other boy recognized that the orange haired teenager wasn't heading back to the house either.

"Where are you going? We've got to get back to class," Uryu stated firmly. It wasn't as if another Hollow was going to pop up any time soon.

"I am not taking the same path as _you_!" the young man stated firmly. Something about the look on his face and Ichigo's posture told Uryu that he was trying to be sneaky about something but failing miserably.

"We need to get back to class," the young man sighed, pushing up his glasses again. There was no time to actually deal with other things.

"I am going to go get Toshiro's soul phone, all right," Ichigo threw a cold glare at the other boy, then shoved off towards the elementary school, despite the fact that he had been told it wasn't a good idea.

Uryu paused for a few second, then startled. "Hey! Didn't I tell you that was a bad idea?" Kurosaki simply ignored to him and moved over to the small school rather quickly with the Quincy hot on his heels. The darker haired teen spoke up, rather irritated that he wasn't being listened to. "How do you expect to be able to get in to get it?"

At that, Ichigo turned and gave him a rather funny look almost as if he thought the answer was obvious. "Don't you get that I'm invisible?"

"I can very much see you Kurosaki," the Quincy sighed. The look on his face said that he felt that was one of the stupidest things that he had ever heard.

"But you also can see spirits," the boy stated. He moved over to the window that he thought was the girls' classroom, or at least the one that he thought was the girl's classroom. He began to peek over the edge of the window. "The class can't."

"Shouldn't you ask Hitsugaya for it and not just take it?" Uryu pushed on his glasses again. He was rather nervous about the situation. While Ichigo was supposidly invisible to most eyes, he in fact wasn't.

"Don't worry! I will be asking him for it," Ichigo stated firmly. His hand waved the whole situation off.

"And how do you plan on getting an answer from him," came the second comment. The tone was rather monotone. "I also don't think..."

"If he sees me out here, he'll come out and ask me why I am here," Ichigo pressed his face up against the window. His face seemed to squish. "I'm not seeing him..."

"Kurosaki!" Uryu let out a sigh. He felt the need to get this whole thing resolved before someone caught sight of both of them, or only one of them. "Why would he have a phone at an elementary school? Logically speaking, wouldn't he have left it at home due to school rules?"

"You sure?" Ichigo began to head back towards the house. This was faster then Uryu could pipe up and he was soon out of an ear range where Uryu didn't have to yell at him.

"Seriously Kurosaki, if you could sense spiritual pressure you would already know that Hitsugaya Taicho isn't here," the Quincy pushed up his glasses just in time for one of the students to push the classroom window open.

"Sensei! There is a teenager outside dressed weird!" the boy blurted out with his glasses sitting upon his freckled face. He pointed at the young man.

"Weird clothing..." came the muttered reply.

"Seriously, what is with you three and lying about things. You're in the fifth grade and should be past this all ready," the teacher stated.

At that, Uryu quick stepped away and chased after the substitute Shingami. "Seriously, Kurosaki, you are trouble, you know that?"

"I don't need to depend on you, Uryu," the young man stated. He pushed forward with the wind in his ears.

"Kurosaki... what about your body?" the other teen sighed. Uryu couldn't help but remember that Kurosaki had left his empty shell of a body off in some alley way near the school.

"Huh?" Ichigo's mind was focused on the one thought at that time, still pushing forward. He then got to his window and began to climb through the window, only to find himself falling over something or someone on the bed and then falling to the floor. He sat straight up before noticing the white haired preteen lying on the bed. Toshiro had been staring at the ceiling and was now looking at him with a rather surprised look on his face. "Toshiro! What the hell are you doing here?"


	10. Grounding Halt

_Author's note – This one hasn't been updated for over a year and a half roughly. Hopefully I can get back into the swing of things._

**Understanding II: School Daze  
~ Grounding Halt ~**

Hitsugaya Toshiro honestly couldn't remember the last time he simply was allowed to be a child, to have a calming environment to settle racked nerves that seemed to be common territory when it came to being a child genius. Everyone expected you to act like the perfect little adult. At least that was the way it always seemed to him.

With Isshin though, there was that piece of mind where he felt that he could simply be himself. Actually, that never had seemed to be the right words due to the fact that Toshiro honestly never found himself knowing who he was. He simply kept living up to other people's expectations.

While the old man had his expectations of Toshiro he had always made it clear that it was all right to mess up. Messing up wasn't something though a captain of the Gotei Thirteen could afford to do very often. Thinking upon that factor he wondered if that was why he had broken down like he had.

If so, should he have ever have become a captain? He felt as of late that he honestly hadn't been ready to take up the position. It felt like it was too much of a job and it honestly didn't help that Rangiku never took the time to do up her share of the paperwork around their division.

Hitsugaya felt too as if he depended too much on others, but around Isshin he had that feeling as if he could depend on the man and it didn't matter if he leaned too much. The only reason he found himself not wanting to was due to the fact he knew how much stress having someone lean on you would cause.

Toshiro also couldn't help but notice the fact that the orange haired teen was much like his father. It was as if Ichigo felt he could hold the whole world on his shoulders, not bothering to think about the consequences of what would eventually be sacrificed if one did so.

At that, the small taicho set down his spoon having finished his icy treat. His mind was still trying to think things through when Isshin simply picked up the dishes and carried them to the bin. Hitsugaya followed in step knowing that he could ask questions and the man would answer to the best of his ability. It had always been that way.

However, the cold hard truth was the fact that as his leave of absence progressed, the white haired child found even more that he didn't know how to ask the questions, even if he felt comfortable asking them. He had been living otherwise for so long that breaking away was hard.

They arrived back at the house and Isshin spoke up. "Toshiro, I'll be in the clinic if you need me. Go ahead and head up to my son's room. No one is supposed to be home for quite a few hours, so feel free to yell, scream and cry to your hearts content if that is the way you are feeling. Or, if you are into reading a good book, pick up one of my sons books."

Hitsugaya simply nodded his head and then headed up the stairs to the bedroom, collapsing onto the bed and pulling a pillow over his head. In some ways, he honestly did feel like he needed to cry, but he also felt numb due to the multitude of thoughts flowing through his head.

Not to mention he was still tired from staying up the night before to finish the school work that had been assigned for the summer break. He found himself drifting off into a deep sleep, feeling that drool was creeping from his mouth onto the pillow, when he suddenly felt a movement on the bed.

He then felt something heavy fall over him and heard the sound of a body falling onto the floor next to him. At that moment, he pried the pillow from his face and looked up at the ceiling, simply staring. As Kurosaki Ichigo got up, his eyes turned to look at the physically older male with a look of surprise.

"Toshiro! What the hell are you doing here?" The substitute shinigami seemed quite irate, but the small preteen found himself brushing the whole thing off.

"Question is, what are you doing here?" The child's voice remained emotionless as his face lost the surprised look. He watched as the orange haired teen's face twisted in anger.

"You're supposed to be in school. I went looking for you so that I could borrow your soul phone." Ichigo shook his head at the young one.

At that, Toshiro piped up. "Why would you need that for?"

"So I can track down hollows and not have this idiot following me around." The younger Kurosaki male hiked his finger at the window where the Quincy was perched.

"I don't know about you, but you're the one who looks more like an idiot right now." A small hand reached up to scratch his head.

"You know Toshiro, you are a major pain in the butt, yet you probably already know that." Ichigo sat down on the bed. "_Why _are you here and not in class?"

"Because I got into a fight on the first day right before I could even get into class."

At that, the substitute shinigami's mouth dropped open. He then continued to glare at the small shinigami. "I've _got _to get back to class, but when I get back, I _will _have a word with you about this."

"Reality check here, Kurosaki Ichigo. You are _not _my boss." Toshiro spat out suddenly.

However, the small shinigami found himself grabbed by Ichigo roughly and found his bright teal eyes staring into two irate brown ones. "Soul society put _me _in charge of taking care of you. If you don't understand that much, you honestly need to grow up."

The small shinigami pulled away at this point, his cheeks flushing. "So what? One minute I am having people asking me to act my age, and other times not."

"That doesn't mean you should get into a fight to prove that you are childish!" Ichigo snapped out. "It goes without saying that _isn't _what everyone means. That should go without saying."

"It doesn't for me." Toshiro's words snapped out again.

At that, the substitute shinigami shook his head. "I have to get back to school. I _will _be talking to you when I get home."


	11. Frustrated

**Understanding II: School Daze  
_~ Frustration ~_**

The frustrating thing about going back to class didn't just include the fact that the small taicho was driving him nuts, but also included the fact that when he got back to his body he found that a crowd was in fact gathered around him. Rukia wasn't there to erase their memories and thus he was stuck in a rather sketchy situation. Thankfully, Uryu came to his rescue muttering some sort of medical jargon.

Stepping back to school, Ichigo turned his head. "What exactly did all of that mean?"

"Doesn't your father run a clinic?" Uryu raised an eyebrow at the substitute shinigami.

"Well, that should be obvious as you went back with me." The orange haired teen retained his rather confused look. "So, what did that stuff mean?"

"I made that stuff up." The dark haired youth shook his head. "If there had been an actual doctor near us, they would have called my bluff instantly."

"Couldn't you have come up with something realistic?" Ichigo's face contorted, his frustration growing.

Uryu pushed up his glasses, his own irritation growing. "There _is _no logical explanation for what happened, at least none that would be believed by the people around you."

At that, Ichigo let out a sigh and he and Uryu slipped back into their class, their teacher not bothering to lecture the two. At lunch time, Orihime asked what was bothering him and he muttered something offhandedly about Toshiro being an absolute brat. He tapped his fingers on the desk, glaring at the chalkboard and wondering what caused the small taicho to get into a fight.

Chad spoke up. "You saw Hitsugaya while you were out?"

"Yeah. I had to go and get a soul phone so I could actually find the Hollows," Ichigo let out a sigh. "I got home and found out he got into a fight on his very first day."

"You want some of my lunch?" Orihime suddenly offered as she smiled at him, only to get rather green faces from the males in their small group.

Chad spoke up. "What are you going to do?"

"When I get home, Toshiro is going to get a lecture about what he's done." Ichigo stated, letting out a deep breath. Eventually the school day ended and he walked home and headed up the stairs and slammed his bag down on his desk. He noted that Toshiro was busy scribbling on some papers. "We need to talk."

"I don't see why we do." The white haired youth spoke up only to find himself grabbed by his shirt and lifted out of the desk chair. The substitute shinigami got right into the small taicho's face. At that, two teal eyes glanced at the ground. "I don't want to talk to you if you're going to yell at me."

"Fair enough. I'll do my schoolwork for a bit of time. You aren't getting out of talking to me about this." Ichigo muttered, going to sit at his desk and reached for his folder that contained his math worksheets, only to pause as he noticed the piece of paper on his desk. At that, he blinked a couple of times and then grabbed the folder and pulled all of the worksheets out.

Spreading them out, he looked at them in disbelief as he suddenly realized that what Toshiro had been doing wasn't scribbling. "Toshiro..."

"You said you would work on your..." the small shinigami found himself quickly interrupted.

Ichigo snapped the papers onto his desk, anger evident in the motions he made. "That was _before _I found out what you had been _doing _while I was gone."

At that, Toshiro moved to the back of the bed, his face twisting up in frustration. "I am honestly not sure what you are talking about."

"You _filled _out a good deal of my math worksheets." Ichigo snapped out, his voice slowly rising in volume.

The small taicho still had a confused look on his face. "Aren't those just practice sheets?"

"_Practice_ sheets?" Ichigo found himself suddenly yelling. "Yes, they say that they are for practice at the top of the sheets, but I still have to turn them in for a grade! You also _filled _them out in _pen_, so I can't possibly erase them!"

"I'm sorry..." The small taicho glanced away, his voice growing smaller.

"Sorry doesn't cut it! How the hell am I going to explain _this _to my teacher!" The teenager continued to yell, his anger quite evident. "I don't want any more of this crap from you Toshiro! Just because you aren't happy with the situation doesn't mean you can do whatever you want!"

"I didn't mean..." The small taicho shrunk down, his body tensing up.

"You didn't _mean _to get into a fight at school today?" The substitute shinigami suddenly grabbed Hitsugaya by the front of his clothing and hoisted the small taicho up. "What ever possessed you to do any of these things?"

"I did the worksheet things because I was bored. I can't stand not having anything to do and I hate the homework that I have to work on." Toshiro refused to look Ichigo in the face, his body sliding down, the want to get away growing.

"So you beat someone up because you were bored?" Ichigo continued berating the small taicho. "What reason did you decide to suddenly beat that guy up for? Was it because you wanted to find a way to get out of class?"

"No..." Toshiro closed his eyes, his face frowning at the loudness next to his ear.

"Then why?"

To his surprise, the small taicho turned to look at the physically older male. "It is _none _of your business."

"None of my buisness why you got into a fight! Toshiro! I am supposed to be keeping an eye on you, keeping you out of trouble! Do you want to be able to get back home or not!" Ichigo waited then for the small taicho to say something, however... Hitsugaya simply glanced to the side, his body saying that he was uncomfortable.

It was only a very short time later that the door opened up. "Ichi-nii?"

At that, Ichigo suddenly glanced up and noticed that Karin was looking into the room, a worried look on her face. He let out a sigh and then began to calm down slightly. "Don't worry about this Karin. I'm trying to talk some sense into Toshiro about the fact that there are certain things you don't do."

"Toshiro, why's Ichi-nii angry at you?" The small female asked, stepping into the room.

"About this morning..." the small taicho stated, still refusing to look Ichigo in the face.

At that, Karin let out a deep sigh. "Just tell Ichi-nii what happened. I honestly think that he'd understand why you got into a fight this morning."

Ichigo let out a deep sigh and then scratched his head. "I remember the kids who liked picking on me because of my hair color."

At that, Toshiro suddenly looked up, his green eyes suddenly going wide. "Hair color? Baka. That isn't what the fight was about."

At that, Ichigo's face twisted back up again. "_If _that wasn't it, that _what _was it that you got a fight over."

"I told you. It _isn't _any of your business." Toshiro suddenly snapped out, glaring at the substitute shinigami.

"Toshiro!" The substitute shinigami pushed his face right into Toshiro's so that both were now glaring at each other, not wanting to back down.

To his surprise though, Karin pushed between them. "Ichi-nii, Toshiro stood up for me. That's why he got into a fight."

_Author's note – I caught an error back in chapter nine. I wrote that "Ichigo began to charge forward with his sword to launch a melee attack, only to have an arrow shoot out and cut through the mask." The problem is, at the point this fanfic is occurring, Uryu in fact doesn't have his powers. So, I changed it to say "...have what seemed to be an arrow...", indicating it is instead one of Uryu's special devices he gathered power into._


	12. Stepping In

**Understanding II: School Daze  
_~ Stepping In ~_**

When Isshin told Karin to get back to class she complied despite the fact that she felt her father was a complete idiot. Something felt odd about the old man's behavior though. She headed to her class and stepped into the room, glad to not be noticed by any of the other students in the classroom. She slipped in next to Yuzu.

Her twin sister frowned at her, worry filling her eyes. "What happened to Toshiro-kun?"

"I spoke up for him, so he'll be able to come back to class tomorrow. Hashigami is stuck missing class for three days." Karin set her book bag down on the hook of her desk and then pulled out her schoolwork. She glanced over her homework, double checking to make sure that everything that she needed to turn in was there. She also double checked her work before turning it in.

One of her friends approached her. Kei had one of those goofy smiles plastered on his face. "Karin! Did you hear that Hashigami got beat up by some new punk kid?"

At that, the small female let out a sigh. "I was there when the whole thing happened. I doubt that the rumors you have been hearing are actually true."

At that, Usaka popped up, pushing up his yellow eye glasses. "Oh come on Karin. I heard he pounded him to a bloody pulp."

"Did you see a bloody mess outside the school?" The female sighed, narrowing her eyes in irritation. Toshiro wasn't even there on the first day and he was already causing her problems.

Yuzu though frowned at the two boys. "Toshiro-kun didn't beat anybody into a pulp."

At that, Kei blinked a couple of times. "You know the kid Karin? I haven't ever heard his name before."

"That's because he was going to start class today. Can we please drop the subject?" Karin turned to glower out the window. "I don't like talking about him."

"But..." Her twin spoke up, only to suddenly become silent with a quick glare from the black haired of the duo.

The rest of the class was talking about what had happened and Karin had the feeling that Toshiro would be met with a rather interesting welcome comity when he came to school the next day. A few of the kids were asking what he looked like and Hashigami's friends were chatting about how the kid was this punk they didn't even know.

Finally though, the teacher came in with the attendance seat and the few standing hurried to their desks and sat down, curiosity written on their face. The woman spoke up, a stern look on her face. "I was supposed to introduce you to a new student today, but something came up."

"That's because he beat up Hashigami." The fat one of the ringleaders friends suddenly spoke up, looking at the front with a rather dull look on his face.

"What I saw out there was a mutual scuffle between two boys. I want his classmates not to judge him before you get to know him. Don't assume that he is a bad seed simply because of this little incident or other reasons." The woman then opened her book and rattled out the attendance.

After a bit of time, Karin glanced out the window, only to see her brother and another teenager outside the window. She pretended that she didn't see either male and honestly didn't want to know why they were there. Something told her that she didn't want to know why the two males were there and instead choose to ignore them.

However, one of Hashigami's group of friends noticed them outside. It was the one named Ino, and he pushed up his glasses as he did so. "Sensei! There is a teenager outside dressed weird!"

At that, her teacher and everyone else suddenly glanced up just as the other teenager and her brother disappeared. Karin found herself rather glad that her brother was gone and turned to look at the window so that she wouldn't draw attention to herself by being the only one looking towards the front. The teacher however, was not at all pleased. "Seriously, what is with you three and lying about things."

She went into a lecture on that one student, which was Karin's signal to look back at the front. She simply wanted a normal life, but she got the idea that a normal life was not something she would ever have, considering her ability to see ghosts. She let out a shiver at the idea that another would suddenly start hanging out around her and she swore that if she ever caught sight of one, she would snap her eyes away as if it didn't exist.

School progressed at a normal rate other then that one incident. After school though, her teacher handed Karin and Yuzu the assignments that were given out that day for Toshiro and they both headed home, rather then going out and hanging with friends. While Yuzu headed into the kitchen to prepare after school snacks, Karin was left with the task of handing over the papers to Toshiro.

She headed up the stairs and heard raised voices coming from her brothers room, completely from her relative, not the guest, though she could hear another person speaking. "None of my business why you got into a fight! Toshiro! I am supposed to be keeping an eye on you, keeping you out of trouble! Do you want to be able to get back home or not!"

At that, Karin stepped in, calling out to her brother. Ichigo tried brushing her off. She listened long enough to find out that the reason her brother was upset with the fight that happened that morning before school started. She felt like rolling her eyes at how stupid the male members of her family could be.

At that, he squeezed in between the two, pushing her brother away before it would escalate into a fight. "Ichi-nii, Toshiro stood up for me. That's why he got into a fight."

At that, her brother pulled back, his entire body calming down. He went and sat down in the chair next to the desk and looked at the two. "Why did Toshiro have to stand up for you? I know for a fact that you can hold your own when it comes to fights."

At that, Karin backed away from the white haired youth, not liking the fact that she had gotten close to him in the first place. It was Toshiro who spoke up, saying something he had said before. "I told you Kurosaki, it isn't any of your business."

At that, Ichigo's eyebrow twitched suddenly. "I think it is my business _because_ she is my sister."

At that, the small female found herself opening her mouth, and then closing it. She then walked over to where her brother was and whispered into his ear what happened. Her brother blinked a couple of times and then she pulled away. "Ichi-nii. Understand that the situation is taken care of."

Her brother let out a deep sigh. "So I take it that the two of you are friends now."

There came an answer of no from the two of them simultaneously. Toshiro's had a sound of frustration while Karin's was more adamant about the whole thing. The female preteen swung her backpack off her shoulders and then pulled out the papers and shoved them at Toshiro. "The teacher gave me your homework assignments. The due dates are already written on them,

She watched as the white haired youth's mouth twisted up in a grimace and then she turned and headed out of the door, heading back downstairs. She then flopped onto the couch and put her hands behind her head. Yuzu popped up next to her. "How's Toshiro-kun doing?"

"Fine... not that I really care."


	13. Talk and Talk

**Understanding II: School Daze  
_~ Talk and Talk ~_**

When Karin stepped over to her brother and whispered into his ear the situation that had occurred that morning, Ichigo found his thought process freezing and his eyes going wide. As he turned to look at her, she continued to speak, this time so both Toshiro and he could hear her. "Ichi-nii. Understand that the situation is taken care of."

At that, Ichigo looked at the two of them. After letting out a deep sigh and scratching his head, he spoke up himself. "So I take it that the two of you are friends now." What he said was a comment on the fact that they were actually getting along with each other, but they both took it as a question and answered no.

Karin then removed some papers from her bag and shoved them towards Toshiro, as if she was trying to confirm the fact that the two of them were in fact not friends. "The teacher gave me your homework assignments. The Due dates are already written on them."

The look on Toshiro's face was priceless, clearly indicating that he was not pleased at receiving more work along the lines of that weekend. Karin left the room and the small taicho let out a deep sigh. "Can I borrow a pen or pencil?" Ichigo simply sat down and stared at the white haired boy, which caused Toshiro to look him straight in the face. "I said I was sorry about the math papers, didn't I?"

"You're sorry..." Ichigo looked at him with a dazed look on his face. "Shouldn't it be the other way around, with me apologizing to you?"

At that, two teal eyes glanced at the ground. "It isn't that big of a deal."

"Yes it is. I shouldn't have yelled at you. I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions." The orange haired teen also looked at the floor. "Look, you honestly could have told me what happened."

Toshiro simply stared at Ichigo, a rather blank look on his face. Finally though, he spoke up. "Isn't touching a girl there something you _aren't _supposed to talk about?"

Ichigo blinked a couple of times, deciding to think carefully about what he needed to say to the young one in front of him. "While it is true that isn't something you should talk about in a public setting, or under normal circumstances. There are some circumstances where you need to talk about that kind of thing."

"For example?" The small boy pestered further on the subject, his confusion quite evident.

At that, the orange haired teen paused. "Well, there was today for example. But another example..." There was a long pause of silence. "Let's say a female flashed her boobs at you, what would you do?"

At that, two teal eyes narrowed. "Is this really a conversation we should be having?"

"Go with it for now. What would you do?"

"I would tell Matsumoto to stop drinking, get back to work and stop being perverted in the office." Toshiro stated, his face remained straight.

"Has she..." Ichigo felt heat suddenly rising in his cheeks.

"Thankfully, she hasn't done that." The small taicho suddenly flopped back onto the bed, letting the papers slide to his side. "She's always talking about them accidentally popping out and other stupid stuff like that."

"Toshiro..." The substitute shinigami felt his cheek muscles twisting his facial features into a look of worry. "You do realize that is sexual harassment, right?"

At that, a small head tilted up off the bed. "I know that. She knows that. She never means it. Plus..." There was another short pause. "Rangiku may act like a bimbo, but she's actually very intelligent. It's her way of acting the part, as much as I hate it." At that, his head flopped back down."

"Let's say... someone other then Matsumoto did that to you then." Ichigo pushed harder, searching for the right answer.

At that, Toshiro sat up, a rather puzzled look on his face. "Look, Matsumoto is the only one I know who even talks like that, and she doesn't ever follow through. Well..." There was a small pause at this. "... besides that point in time. It isn't appropriate to talk about though. That is what I've been trying to tell you. None of this conversation is appropriate."

"I'm _trying _to make a point Toshiro." Ichigo snapped the words out. "Lets say some stranger walks up to you, a female who is drunk and she flashes you?"

"If _that _happens, any female of the woman's society will give her hell for doing that to me and chase her away." The small taicho frowned at this. "And before you asked, that did happen... except Matsumoto and Ise both stepped in front of me before I could see anything."

"Toshiro... look, lets say you were by yourself and some stranger started to sexually harass you. You can't hit a girl, right? What would you do?" This time a different route was attempted.

"You can push a girl aside in a manner that doesn't harm her and then I would leave until she was gone." Two teal eyes narrowed. "You know that I don't like this conversation."

"You're saying you wouldn't tell anyone?" Ichigo raised an eyebrow suddenly.

"The situation would be over with. Why would I need to?" Toshiro shook his head. "Can we please stop?"

"No. We won't stop this conversation. I'll tell you why you need to tell someone about these kind of conversations. What if this stranger were to try again? Multiple times in fact? And what if, one of those times, she made it so you couldn't get away, or you couldn't fight back." The substitute shinigami shook his head.

"I doubt I'll ever be..."

"Toshiro!" Ichigo snapped his words out. "The thing is, you never know when you are going to end up in such a situation, or even a situation you can't handle. When there is something that is uncomfortable like this, you're supposed to approach an adult. Don't just rely on yourself and your own strength." However, the shinigami paused. "Even adults need to rely on other people."

"I got it. There are times that you need to tell other people about these things." The small taicho flopped backwards onto the bed again, some of this frustration gone.

Something about what Toshiro said earlier bother the orange haired teen. "Umm... Toshiro. I know you don't like talking about this kind of subject, but something you said earlier bothered me. That point in time would be what per say?"

At that, two eyes blinked a couple of times and the boy lifted himself up on his elbows. "This is one of those times that I need to talk about this, isn't it?" A sigh came and the small body went limp. "When I was younger, a _lot_ younger, Matsumoto would take me to the baths. She still does... or tries to. We used to..."

There was a slight paused. "You know that silver haired man who was with Aizen? That was Ichimaru Gin. We used to go to the baths with him too. And sometimes I went with taicho." There was another pause. "My former taicho who I replaced."

"Well, your still a kid. You at least understand boundaries, unlike Yuzu." Ichigo shook his head. "Everyone was surprised that those three defected, right?"

Toshiro stared at the ceiling, his eyes narrowing. "No one was surprised that Ichimaru went with Aizen. Everyone expected ill will to come from him because he had such a bad reputation. Yet..." At that, he sat up and looked at the substitute shinigami, crossing his legs as he did so. "... I never saw him as a bad person... just obnoxious and annoying."

"I take it something is bothering you about the situation?" The male raised an eyebrow at Toshiro.

"I noticed something was wrong, because of a conversation that Aizen and he had. But that in truth was planned, almost like they wanted me to suspect that man. I am not sure though, if what I am upset with is the fact that I was played like I was, or if I am upset because I honestly don't feel like I got the truth of what is going on. Something _still _bothers me."

"At this point, don't worry about it." Ichigo then turned to the papers still on his desk. "About these..."

"I said I was sorry." The small boy frowned at the physically older boy.

"I know that you said that. I wasn't really mad at you about this, so don't worry about apologizing. I was just trying to say, I'll give these to my teacher tomorrow and explain the situation." Ichigo shook his head. "You should be worrying about school tomorrow. Check to make sure there isn't anything due."


	14. Phone Home

**Understanding II: School Daze  
_~ Phone Home ~_**

The smells from the kitchen drifted upstairs as Toshiro and Ichigo heeded the calls from Yuzu that dinner was ready. Karin simply sat at the table, not looking at either one of the males and waited patiently for Yuzu to serve the food. This had to wait though, until Isshin came into the room and sat down himself.

They said their thank yous for the food and began to dig in. Glancing up out of the corner of his eye, Toshiro couldn't help but notice that Karin didn't seem to care what other people thought of her as she shoveled food into her mouth. It wasn't as if she was a messy eater, but she ate rather fast.

Particularly in comparison to the rate that he liked to eat. Truth be told, he couldn't help but notice that he ate slower then even Yuzu did, which was possibly why Karin was now giving him some odd looks. She finally spoke up. "You know, you don't have to be polite and neat when you eat your food Toshiro."

At that, the small taicho found himself suddenly flinching, his face suddenly paling, thinking about what would happen if he did in fact speed up. There was a laugh as the dragon laughed in his ears. "_You're afraid of making a mess with your food. You may have been a sloppy eater when you were much younger, but you've learned some control._"

"_I can't stand getting food on my clothing. It was one thing, I think... when I was living in the Rukongai and my clothes were filthy from running around all day, as was my body from the fact that we didn't bathe everyday, but now it is different."_

"_Sure it is..._" The dragon let out a deep sigh.

"Toshiro..." Isshin suddenly spoke up, catching the small child off guard. "If you don't hurry up and eat, the others won't leave you seconds."

At that, the white haired youth pushed his lips together and his dragon piped up. "_You know very well that you need quite a bit of food to keep up your reiatsu levels, even when they're sealed. Do you want Matsumoto to lecture you on that one again? Or how about your former taicho here? He looks like he will give you a lecture later on, if you don't eat enough._"

At that, Toshiro dug in himself, his cheeks burning from embarrassment of having to shovel the food into his mouth to catch up. And unfortunately, he had to have bad luck as Ichigo managed to knock over the small taicho's drink, right into his lap. At that, Hitsugaya stopped eating, pulled the bowl of rice away and stared straight down at his clothing.

At that, he set down is bowl, his cheeks flushing a deeper red as he stared wide eyed at the mess. "I won't be finishing dinner. If you don't mind, can I be excused to go take a shower?"

"You... you are a major narcissist." Karin stated, pointing her chop sticks right at Toshiro.

The small taicho opened his mouth to say something, but snapped it shut as his cheeks suddenly flushed red. He simply stood up and began to walk up the stairs, grabbing what he needed to prepare for the shower. He noticed that the curtain had been put back since he had pulled it down the other day.

At that, he pulled of his clothes and got in, letting the hot water pour down his back, while he tried to forget a lot of the things happening to him. "_Good grief. I can't seem to do anything right. Spilling food on myself is completely embarrassing. I wouldn't be able to live that down if I was in the company of any of the captains or other big officials. I'd be laughed at and have my abilities questioned._"

"_It was just in front of your former taicho and his family._" Hyorinmaru spoke up, catching Toshiro off guard slightly. "_Or is there something else that is bothering you. Think about it carefully._"

"_She called me a narcissist! How can I be a narcissist when I __hate__ the way I look?_" The small shinigami fumed, not knowing how long he had been in the shower.

At that, the dragon let out a sigh of frustration. "_You aren't getting what I am saying, little one._"

At that, a ringing sound came from the sink area, and the small taicho's head suddenly snapped up. At that, he quickly turned off the water and stepped out, grabbing the phone as he did so, wrapping a towel around his waist. "Hello?"

"_Taicho?_" The bubbly voice came from the other side, causing him to suddenly jump.

At that, he blinked a couple of times. "Umm... Matsumoto?"

"_Who else would this be?_" The woman bubbled at him.

"This isn't exactly... the best time." The boy glanced down, his cheeks suddenly turning a bright red.

At that, there came a deep sigh from the female. "_Taicho, you just left Soul Society. What could you be doing right now?_"

At that, two teal eyes snapped shut, as he hurried to pull his clothes back on. "Actually, its been a week Rangiku-san. There was an odd warp when we went through, so we got sent a week into the past. Can I... umm..."

"_Umm... taicho, what are you doing right now?_" The busty female suddenly had concern in her voice.

At that, Toshiro suddenly fell into the wall as he tried pulling up his pants. "Ouch... I was taking a shower."

"_Ehh..._ _you must look very cute right now. I know if I was there, and considering the loud sound I just heard, I would likely be running in there to make sure you are all right._" The woman stated, her voice remaining bubbly.

"Matsumoto!" At that, the small boy hurried to finish putting his clothes on, while she yacked in his ears.

"_Oh, don't be such a spoil sport taicho. I've taken care of you when you've been sick and haven't been feeling good. I've got lots of hugs for you when you get back._" The woman stated as the boy spluttered into the phone, just as he pulled his shirt on. "_Well, when you left it felt like you needed some._"

"Matsumoto..." At that, Toshiro glanced out the doorway, looking to see if someone was there to see him. He then slipped out of the door and into Ichigo's room. As he opened up the window to slip outside, he continued speaking. "Look, I have had the most horrible week ever."

"_Then you really need a hug. Gosh taicho, I wish I was there._" At that, the boy's cheeks flushed up.

"No... well, I won't say anything about your hugs other then you tend to chock me to death and glomp me and embarrass me." Hitsugaya let out a deep sigh. "I'm staying with the substitute shinigami right now."

"_Ahh! I saw him before! He seems like a very nice young man. Is he taking care of you?_" Rangiku's smile was evident from her tone.

"He's taking care of me, I guess. I'm not liking it if that is what it is called." Toshiro then let out a deep sigh. "I'm stuck in elementary school Matsumoto."

At that, there was a pause on the other side of the phone. "_Taicho... did you just say what I think you said?_"

"I said that I am stuck in elementary school, rather then going to school with Kurosaki... well, the oldest Kurosaki. Technically, I am going to school with his two sisters." The boy blurted out, his frustrated tone growing.

"_So... you are going to elementary school. You are also living with a couple of girls who are physically your age?"_ The woman's voice sounded curious, not to mention a bit nervous.

"His sister Yuzu is fine, but Karin is driving me nuts. She flushed the toilet while I was in the shower and I pulled the curtain down on me. She saw me naked Matsumoto." The boy continued letting his frustration out.

"_Taicho, I was thinking that the reason you are upset right now was because you are having to hang out with people your age, and you aren't being challenged to your intelligence level. But..._" Rangiku suddenly paused.

"But what?" The boy muttered, frustrated with the situation.

"_I have to wonder if you have a crush on that girl or something._"

At that, Toshiro almost dropped his phone to the ground, and he fumbled with it for a few minutes before putting it back to his ear. "Matsumoto! You can't be serious! How could I have a crush on her! She's treated me like a complete freak since I've been here! I had enough of that with the kids where I grew up around!"

"_Taicho... I didn't say you definitely had a crush on her, but maybe you want to be friends with this girl in the least?_" The woman listened to his silence, then spoke up again. "_Did she say something that hurt your feelings? Or did something happen?_"

At that, Toshiro let out a deep sigh. "At first, I don't think I did anything except say the right thing at the wrong time."

"_It's wrong thing at the right time or the wrong thing at the wrong time._" There was a creek, indicating that the woman was leaning back in the chair.

"No, believe me. It was the right thing, at the wrong time." The boy glanced down at his feet as they hung over the edge of the roof.

"_I'll take your word for it then._" Matsumoto continued to listen patiently.

"Today, I spilled food on myself, and when I went to clean up in the shower instead of finishing dinner, she called me a narcissist." The boy suddenly found the fingers on his free hand tapping on the roof.

"_I'm going to say, while you aren't a narcissist, some of your... behavior is obsessive enough that someone might think that. Just be careful about that._" Rangiku let out a deep sigh.

"If I eat slow, I won't get seconds, and I'm hungry. If I eat fast, I'll spill more food on myself. I can't stand that... it's... it's..." Toshiro suddenly found his lips tightening up.

"_It isn't neat and tidy like your desk in the office. Try a napkin tucked in your collar to prevent a mess._" The advice normally would have been sound.

"If I tuck a napkin in my collar, she'll call me a narcissist for that!" The small boy flopped back onto the roof, his hair still soaking wet.

He was about to say something else, when Ichigo popped his head out of the window below. "Toshiro... Yuzu had me bring up a tray of food for yourself. She says if you wish to eat slowly and you don't get seconds from at a meal time, you can feel free to get something from the cupboard or fridge."

At that, Rangiku suddenly laughed on the other side of the phone. "_Oh, I heard that taicho. I don't think you have to worry._"

"It isn't funny!"


	15. Introductions

**Understanding II: School Daze  
_~ Introductions ~_**

The next morning, Toshiro found himself waking up early and going over the items that needed to go into his school bag, while Ichigo watched him with a rather amused look on his face. However, the small shinigami finally got tired of being stared at and turned his head towards the orange haired teen. "What is so funny?"

"I just realized something. You have obsessive-compulsive disorder, don't you?" The teen stated, his own school bag already packed and ready to go.

"That _isn't_ funny." Hitsugaya turned to glare at the physically older male.

At that, two brown eyes stared at him while Ichigo suddenly stopped laughing. "I guess it isn't funny. However..." The teenager paused for a second. "... if you start looking at the things you obsess to much about and figure out how to better deal with them, you may be able to cut down on the stress you have in your life."

At that, Toshiro shook the bag, glaring at the teenager, and then walked down the stairs, his bag swung over his shoulder. He then sat at the kitchen table, while Yuzu bustled about. She glanced up, blinking a couple of times. "You're up early."

"I like getting up early." The boy stated, his chin resting on the table, his boredom quickly becoming evident to those around him. She set a bento box down in front of him, to put into his bag.

At that, the small female went to the stairs and yelled, causing the small taicho to jump. "Karin! It's time to get up!"

After eating the food on the table, the three preteens stood up and headed to the door, while Ichigo walked after them, taking a different path nearly right off the back. Toshiro followed along, not saying anything, while Karin and Yuzu talked to each other. Mostly though, it was the brown haired twin doing the speaking.

The children arrived at the elementary school and Toshiro stared at the entrance, just as the bell to make sure they got into their classrooms rung. The dark haired twin turned to him. "You'll need to stand out in the hallway until the teacher introduces you, because she wasn't able to do so yesterday."

"I already knew that..." The boy followed them, his body tensing up as he felt certain eyes on him, which caused him to want to go and hide. The two girls slipped into the classroom, while the teacher came to speak with him, only to pause upon seeing a child who looked very different from the norm.

The woman said her name. "I'm your new teacher, Hitsugaya-kun. I hope that you make friends quickly with the other students and do well in class."

At that, Toshiro glanced up, the other students having already gone in. "Not to offend you sensei, but I'm not one of those kids you need to patronize."

At that, her mouth opened and shut it. She then smiled at him. "You may not need me to patronize you, but sometimes hearing something nice said can feel good. You can give me your summer work during the lunch break."

She watched as his teal eyes suddenly widened in surprise. She simply motioned him to follow and then she turned to the class. "I have a new student to introduce you today." She then turned to Toshiro. "Would you please write your name on the board and tell them your name."

At that, Toshiro found himself flinching, not to mention, he couldn't take a gander at the other students, his mind was that nervous. He picked up the chalk and wrote his name down, then turned to the class, his mouth opening as he saw a bunch of the elementary school students with their eyes glued on them. "My name is Hitsugaya Toshiro."

At that, the woman glanced around. "Why don't you go and sit by the Kurosaki Twins?"

At that, he felt his footsteps fall heavily on the floor as he walked past the other students, feeling their eyes upon his back. He felt like swallowing, however... he found that he was to nervous to do so. He slipped into his seat and didn't look up at anyone, but he could already hear whispers coming to his ears.

"He's the kid who beat up Hashigami yesterday." This caused him to glance up, but not let anyone know he was doing this.

"Hashigami kind of deserves it, because he is never nice to people." A boy with blond hair pulled to either side spoke up.

A rather rotund student spoke up. "I bet he's in a gang, because his hair is obviously a wack job."

At that, Toshiro found himself looking out the glass window. Karin was between him and that view, but he still looked that way. At that, the teacher suddenly made a loud noise. "We need to be focusing on class please. Students, please get your homework from last night out and pass it forward."

At that, he dug out the work, still not looking anyone in the face and watched how the class passed them forward. He then proceeded to do the same thing, his mind rather numb from the idea that the lessons would be boring. The teacher walked up to the board and suddenly piped up. "I decided today to give a pop quiz when it comes to math, so I'll be passing the paper out right now. You have twenty minutes and I'll then collect the papers."

At that, Toshiro took a page, placing it face down until she said start, a mechanical pencil in his hand. Upon the start button, he turned it over and let out a deep sigh. He found himself scribbling down the answers, as the math was horribly easy. It was so easy, he finished in a couple of minutes.

The next thing he knew, he found himself doodling on the back of the paper, drawing a cartoonist Hyorinmaru out on the paper as the dragon spoke to him about things he actually found to be interesting.


	16. Lunch Time

**Understanding II: School Daze  
_~ Lunch Time ~_**

When Ichigo arrived at school, the first thing he did was go and speak with the teacher in charge of the math, who also happened to be his classes Homeroom teacher. He walked up to the woman, scratching his head. "Can I speak to you Ochi Sensei?"

At that, the woman looked up, her smile quite enthusiastic. "Good morning Kurosaki. You aren't going to tell me that you forgot your homework, or forgot to even do it are you?"

"Ehh..." The orange haired teen blinked a couple of times.

The woman then spoke up, going back to her grading. "Because the thing is, you have been missing a lot of school, cutting out of class."

"Well... I know this is going to likely disappoint you, Sensei, but I honestly don't have my homework done. I actually wasn't able to do my homework yesterday, and I wanted to talk to you about that." The substitute shinigami glanced at the door way.

"Kurosaki, you know I don't let people make up the work. It has to be very big circumstances, like a family member being in the hospital. I know that isn't the case though, because you're here right now." The woman picked up the papers she would need for her class that day and stood up.

"Actually, I wasn't wanting to find out if I could make up the work. There is something that I need to talk to you about, that is a family situation, so to speak. I was wondering if I might speak to you about it during lunch time?" Ichigo asked, knowing that she would give a firm answer. Thus, he was in the teachers lounge to speak with her.

"So, what is it that you want to talk to me about?" The woman leaned back in her chair slightly and Ichigo handed her a folder. At that, she flipped through the pages. "Kurossai... this is all of the math work sheets I gave you. All of them are completed... including the one that was due today. If you completed them then why is it you didn't turn it in?"

"Actually, I'm not the person who completed any of those work sheets. Over the summer break, we had a kid around my two sisters age come and stay with us because of his home situation. My dad enrolled him at the elementary school, so he could be in Karin and Yuzu's classroom. He didn't start school until today, so he was home yesterday, and he got bored."

Misato glanced through the papers, a frown on her face. "Kurosaki,_ what_ grade level are your two sisters?"

"They're in the fifth grade, and next year they'll be in the sixth." The teenager pulled one of the chairs out and sat watching her.

"The thing is, this is all of the math worksheets for a tenth grader. Your little friend, if I can call him that... he did all the math completely and correctly. That means he's at least at an eleventh grade level for learning math, if not higher." The woman stated, and then blinked a couple of times. "Kurosaki, are you needing new worksheets because of this?"

"Yeah, I am." Ichigo scratched his head, a weak smile splayed on his face, trying to make light of the situation, when he really couldn't.

The teacher tapped the papers on the desk. "Normally, I don't allow makeup work, but the situation isn't normal, so I'll give you time to make up the homework that is due today and tomorrow by the beginning of next week. However, I don't think that this is what you wanted to talk to me about."

"I honestly don't think Toshiro should be in elementary school, intelligence wise. The other day, he was reading one of Shakesphere's plays that I had in my room and he hated reading the assigned reading that the elementary school had for him." The teenager placed his hands on his knees, watching the woman carefully.

Continuing, he spoke up some more. "However, one of the reasons he is staying with us is because he has some social issues that need to be dealt with. He honestly doesn't know how to interact with other kids his age. He keeps trying to be an adult, when he really just needs a chance to be a kid."

"So... you honestly think that he needs high school level material, but on the other side he needs the interaction with his classmates." The woman stated. "You wouldn't happen to know what the name of their teacher is?"

"Not really..." Ichigo paused at this, wondering exactly where this was going.

"If you can get me her information, I can possibly talk to her and see what she thinks about the situation." The woman smiled at him.

"But Toshiro isn't one of your students?" The teenager shook his head at her.

The woman smiled. "He may eventually be, plus... a teacher is a teacher. We do it because we like students learning. Plus, a bored kid in elementary school because of curriculum issues is not good for the teachers and other students typically. It also seems like a challenge, something I don't get very often."

**M**

The white haired child felt his mind go numb as he heard over and over again, things he already knew. The teacher would ask for students to raise their hands to answer her questions, and he watched as the other students hands would raise up to give her an answer, though some of the kids shied away from answering.

Every so often, the teacher would call upon a student who didn't wish to raise their hands and Toshiro kept his mind going enough, so that he could begrudgingly answer a question. However, she never asked him anything, almost as if she was giving him a chance to get used to the class room.

Eventually, the shinigami captain felt that her calling on him to answer something would levitate some of the strain on his mind. He also felt it would make some of the felling about the eyes staring at him also disappear. Hitsugaya also tried coming up with a reason for him being here, as he wasn't learning anything new, and there was no form of competition, nothing to look forward to.

Even doodling small pictures in one of his notebooks, along with the few notes he felt he needed to take did nothing to eliminate the _pain_ he felt, or that is what the mental strain felt. like. Slowly, his notes came to consist of more and more pictures, rather then words. However, a relief came when the bell rang.

Glancing up though at the clock, he realized he still had more time to be stuck in the classroom. However, he reached down to his back pack and pulled out his bento, setting it on his desk while he watched the other students move their desks together and make their own preparations.

A few of the males were muttering under their breath about his hair color, and how they felt there were some problems with him. The word psychopath cropped up, but he couldn't see who it was that said it, likely a friend of the kid he got into a fight with yesterday. The honest truth was, he wasn't sure what to do.

Karin had pulled her desk together with Yuzu and another girl, and she was glancing up at Toshiro when he found himself approached by one of the females in the class. At first, his head remained hung down, but he found his body tensing up, and his mouth opening slightly as his eyes widened for a few minutes in surprise.

When his eyes returned to their normal state, he suddenly felt a few guys glaring into his back. "I was wondering, would you like to eat with us? Your new, so you haven't made any friends yet, right?"

At that, Toshiro's mouth opened up, but then snapped shut. He then opened up his mouth to say something. "I..."

At that, Yuzu spoke up from where Karin and the other girl had pulled the three desks together, leaving a space for another desk. Their friend glanced at Hitsugaya nervously. This didn't stop the lighter haired twin from speaking up. "Toshiro-kun, you can sit with Karin-chan and me and Midori-chan."

At that, two teal eyes blinked a couple of times, not at all sure what to do in this situation. Without glancing around, he could feel a few of the male eyes glaring into his back. However, the other girl blinked a couple of times, backing up slowly. "Well, if Kurosaki Yuzu insists, you should go ahead and eat with her."

At that, the boy glanced down, but then moved his desk over to next to Karin's desk and then sat down. He spoke quietly, not very loud to her. "Exactly what was going on there?"

At that, the dark haired twin simply stared at him. "Toshiro, you don't understand why she asked you to eat with her?"

"No..." The boy opened up the bento that Yuzu had prepared for him. "I can't see why anyone would ask me to eat with them as I am a complete stranger and rumors are already going on."

AT that, the female let out a deep sigh. "For some reason, I don't think you want to know the reason."


	17. Headache

**Understanding II: School Daze  
_~ Headache ~_**

After lunch, Toshiro found his mind going so numb, that a headache encroached upon him, making it so that it was hard to even doodle on the piece of paper that he happened to have in front of him. He wanted the school day to end, but in truth things just kept getting harder to handle.

He glanced over at Karin, who was fully occupied with taking notes from the teacher's lesson. A glance over at Yuzu had the same result, she was busy and actually enjoying herself. Then, his mind glanced over towards the girl who had asked him to eat with him, only to find the girl staring at him. For some reason, he felt a seriously creepy feeling from her her actions.

Finally, he glanced forward and raised his hand, as he couldn't take anymore. The teacher startled, surprised that a new student was raising his hand. "Hitsugaya-kun?"

"Can I go to the nurses office?" the boy asked, the corner of his mouth twisted up do to a nausea that hit him.

There was a period of silence, but then she nodded her head and the boy got up and headed towards where he figured the nurses office to be, only to suddenly realize that he honestly didn't know for sure if the nurses office was towards the teachers office area. He still headed that way, when he heard a voice from behind him.

He turned around to see the female that had asked him to eat with her. "I reminded the teacher that you were new, so I asked if I could show you to where the nurses office is."

For some reason she fluttered her eyes at him, making his nausea worse. He then glanced towards the teacher lounge. "It is by where the teachers meet, right?"

"Well, yes." The girl stated, still fluttering her eyes at him.

"Then I can go and find it myself." Toshiro stated, heading towards the office, only to have the girl suddenly grab his arm.

"My name is Nabara Yami." The girl tried fluttering her eyes again.

At that, Hitsugaya let out a deep sigh. "Look. I have a _really _bad headache. I would rather you leave me alone." When she pouted at him, he then added an additional word. "_Please_."

At that, she turned and left, rather miffed off that she had been turned away. He then walked down the hallway, until he got to the door with a sign above it that indicated that was where he needed to be. He knocked on the door and then entered. A woman suddenly spun around in the chair, smiling at Toshiro. "I take it you aren't feeling well."

"I have a headache." The boy stated, glancing over to where she indicated. He then sat down on the bed, while she shuffled around. She pulled out a thermometer and stuck it into his mouth. "I don't have a fever. I just have a headache."

At that, she simply smiled. "I still need to double check. I can't give you anything for your headache."

"I just need some quiet." The boy muttered, as she held up her hand, indicating that he should not speak so that the thermometer could do his work.

She then removed the thermometer. "You are a little warm."

"Don't have a fever." Toshiro protested. He then spoke quietly. "I just need some quiet. _Please._"

The woman turned and wrote down some notes. She then got up and pulled the curtain around the bed and the young shinigami lay down. About half an hour later, the nurse came back and peeked in. "How are you doing?"

"A little better. I don't want to go back to class though." The boy stated.

The woman nodded, and then tilted her head towards another spot. "The person who is taking care of you would like to speak with you."

At that, Toshiro got up, wondering what kind of lecture he would be getting from his former Taicho. Letting out a deep sigh, he got up and then stepped over to the phone. "Isshin-san, sir?"

"_How are you doing Toshiro?_" The man stated over the phone.

Hitsugaya simply hung the silence there, nervous about telling the man he had managed to get out of classes a second day in a row. He then muttered into the phone. "My head hurts. I'm not lying to you."

"_I know you're not._" Isshin then spoke up. "_The nurse gave me your temperature._"

"I don't have a fever, _sir_." Toshiro muttered. "When my head stops hurting, I'll be going back to class, I promise."

A laugh came from the other side of the phone call. "_Toshiro... you __do__ have a fever. I explained to the nurse that your temperature runs a few degrees lower then with other kids. Why don't you come on home?_"

"I'm not sick though." Another laugh came on the other side of the phone. "I don't have a cough. I don't fill nauseous..._"_ At that, the boy paused. "No, I do feel sick to my stomach, but I think that is because of the head ache."

"_I think so to._" Isshin stated, a shuffling sound coming through. "_I think you are stressed out, and your body is reacting to it. You aren't used to this kind of situation." _At that, there came another surprise. "_I'm giving you permission to come on home. Do you think you can find your way without one of the girls?_"

"I can find my way I think." Toshiro blinked a couple of times. "I am not in trouble?"

"_No._" The man chuckled.

"I don't get it." The boy sighed

"_I imagine that I don't._" Isshin stated firmly. "_I told the nurse to have Karin and Yuzu bring your stuff home. When you get back here, I want you to go upstairs and lie down. I want you to relax. Ichigo has some classical music. Put that into the CD player, and close your eyes. You should hopefully feel better._"

"Yes sir." Toshiro handed the phone back to the nurse, who simply hung it up. He then got up and headed out the door and began to head home. He arrived at the house and let himself in through the front door. He headed up stairs, and heard some music already coming from Ichigo's room.

"Kurosaki-san?" At that, the boy opened the door, only to find that the older boy hadn't come home from school yet. A trey with a snack on it and something cold to drink was on the desk though, and Hitsugaya found himself beginning to smile. "Isshin-san... one thing he is good at is making sure people are taken care of."


	18. Hollow Attack

**Understanding II: School Daze  
~ _Hollow Attack ~_**

Karin found herself unable to understand Hitsugaya Toshiro. She woke up that morning, and the first thing she did was think about how much of a problem he was. "_Seriously, I don't understand why he doesn't act like the other guys at school_"

Right on cure, Yuzu spoke up with similar thoughts. "I don't get Toshiro."

"What do you mean?" The dark haired twin blinked a couple of times.

"What I mean is, Toshiro-kun doesn't act like any of the other guys at school. He's really polite, and he's kind, not to mention he's mature." The small female placed a finger on her chin. "He'd make the perfect boyfriend you know."

"He's make the perfect boyfriend why?" Karin let out a deep breath, hating it when her twin started into her boy talk. "_Personally, I don't see the point in liking boys._"

"He's cute. He knows how to cook. He's polite. He looks out for others." Yuzu began to list things on her finger tips.

She stopped though, when Karin let out a groan. "He's a narcissist. He's too good to be true. It is as if he is hiding something, and something _really _bothers me about him."

"Karin-chan has a crush on him!" Yuzu stated, suddenly squeeling in delight.

"First off Yuzu... I don't have a crush on him. Second, don't go telling him that. We don't get along enough as it is." The dark haired twin then flopped back into bed, and the next thing she knew, her sister was yelling at her to get up. She rushed to get dressed, and then hurried down the stairs. The look on his face was pure nervousness. Thus he tried to be helpful once they got to school, only to get a cold shoulder.

Karin had made the decision to ignore the boy in class, but found herself unable to ignore the comments from her fellow students. "_There is no way I would be able to put up with this, if I were the new kid. I don't get how he can remain so calm. I mean... Ichigo would have either gotten into a fight, or he would have become class clown._"

Finally, class time came around, and she knew that her ignoring of Toshiro couldn't last much longer that day. Nobody would want to sit with him, and she knew Yuzu would be inviting him over. And true to that thought, Yuzu laid out the plan between Karin and Midori, the one girl in the class who wasn't turned off by the tomboy's anti-feminine ways.

As she looked up to make the formal invitation for him to come over, Nabara Yami decided to suddenly approach him, which caused Karin to narrow her eyes to glare at the female. "She had better not pick on him, simply because he is the new kid and looks different."

Out loud, Yami spoke up, flipping her hair in a flirtatious matter, which caused Karin to suddenly let out a groan. Everyone in class could hear it. "I was wondering, would you like to eat with us? You're new, so you haven't made any friends yet, right?"

Of course, it was Yuzu who rescued Toshiro from looking like an idiot, and he simply came over rather nervously and sat down, a look of confusion on his face. To Karin's surprise, he had no clue that Yami had been trying to flirt with him. "_What is wrong with him? The guys I play soccer with would have died and gone to heaven to get an invitation from her._"

Of course, things became even more annoying, when Toshiro decided to skip out on class and Yuzu and Karin were instructed to take his stuff home. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Yumi give her a dirty look. "_At least she doesn't have to deal with him._"

"Are you coming Karin?" Her twin spoke up, her eyes bright as she lifted up their house guests backpack.

"I think I'm going to head to the park to play some soccer with my friends. I don't really want to deal with Toshiro right now, as he did skip out on class today." The small female didn't dare look Yuzu in the face, knowing full well the girl would be suddenly pouting.

"He wasn't feeling well." Yuzu chided.

"He didn't feel well because everyone has practically made him uncomfortable. Give him his space when you get home Yuzu." The dark haired female child grabbed her ball and began walking towards the park, rather then towards the house, leaving her fuming twin behind.

As she walked along, her own head began to hurt, and she found herself pausing in frustration. That sound that came when a Hollow came out of the sky suddenly appeared, and she found her mood changing drastically. It wasn't that she was afraid of dealing with these creatures, but she did not find it to be a pleasant experience.

The creature was huge, ugly and lacked any major vocabulary. The female dropped her soccer ball to the ground, eying the monster carefully. She then pulled back her foot and launched the ball right into the creatures face, smashing the mask and causing it to disintegrate. She let out a sigh of relief, only to find her eyes going wide, as she heard the roar of another right behind her, and close.

She started to turn her head, only to feel something smash into her back. It wasn't claws, but it still sent her to the ground, rolling across it. She felt someone's arms wrap around her shoulders, and felt herself pulled into someone's arms as she rolled, protecting her arms and face from the ground. This wasn't something she expected from Jinta.

When she opened her eyes, she found herself completely taken aback at who she happened to see. "Toshiro!"


	19. Playing Hero

**Understanding II: School Daze  
~ Playing Hero **

The white haired child ate the snack his former taicho provided for him and then plopped down onto the soft bed of Kurosaki Ichigo, folding his arms behind his head, closing his eyes as he did so. "_I'm used to taking a nap around this time of day._"

"_I don't think that is why you got a head ache, young one._" The dragon's voice was quiet, which was normal when the small captain was dealing with the headaches that would occur at times.

"_I know it isn't. I just like taking a nap after I do any sort of paperwork. And that school work was horrible. I REALLY want to go home._" Soon, a soft snoring sound could be heard blending in with the classical music. However, the quiet didn't last long, as two bright teal eyes snapped open when a feeling fell over him.

Toshiro's pushed one of the pills into his mouth and popped out, giving out a quick order to his soul candy, and then took of towards the direction he felt the Hollow coming from. The negative soul just so happened to be close by, which caused the white haired boy to tense up. He found himself landing in the air nearby.

What he saw caused him to blink a couple of times. The first Hollow that had appeared was attacking the substitute shinigami's littler sister Karin. The boy reached up with his small hand to grab the handle of his zampaktuo, only to pause suddenly when he saw her turn to look the Hollow in the face. "_She can see them?_"

His question was answered as soon as she took her soccer ball and launched it at the monster, causing the mask to smash into pieces, causing it to disintegrate. The boy paused at this revelation, just as another Hollow came up behind her. Suddenly, he found himself moving forward to get her out of the way.

The arm of the monster swung down at Karin, just as Toshiro moved between the two, the arm smashing into his ribs, sending him crashing into the female preteen. They both went flying, and instinctively he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close so that she would have few injuries. They crashed onto the ground hard.

The first thing that came to his mind was how he wasn't really comfortable with the position he found himself in. The next thing he knew, Karin was calling out his name. He opened his teal eyes to look right into hers, before pushing himself away in hopes that she wouldn't haul off and slug him. He winced as he did, clutching a hand to his ribs.

"What the hell do you think you are doing!" The female sat up, glaring at the male as he sat there.

Toshiro stood up only to have the dark haired preteen stand up and block his path to the Hollow. His hand was on the hilt. "Would you rather it was you who got hit by that swing."

Karin opened her mouth, only to have Hitsugaya gently brush her aside, drawing his blade to point it at the monster, placing himself between her and the Hollow. She placed her hands on her hips. "You know, I'm not some damsel in distress that always needs saving."

Two teal eyes suddenly turned to look at her. The look that the boy gave was one filled with confusion as to what she was getting at. However, before either one of them could say anything, the Hollow took another swing. Toshiro attempted to move out of the way, only to have the claws graze his right shoulder, tearing the uniform and drawing blood. He hissed in pain. "You do realize this isn't some game, right?"

At that, he quickly moved, going to strike the Hollow down. Turning around as the beast began to disappear, he caught a particular glisten in Karin's eyes. "Are you... crying?"

The girl reached up and wiped a sleeve across her eyes. "I'm not crying. However, you are definitely hurt."

Hitsugaya turned his head slightly, to look at the wound on his shoulder. "It is just a scratch."

As he said this, his head suddenly started to swim and his stomach lurched. It wasn't the feeling one got when one had a fever from the flu. The feeling was more along the line of a sudden loss in energy. He felt himself suddenly take a step off balance and nearly fall forward. He caught himself only to glance up in time to see the female glaring at him.

"Toshiro. You aren't doing well." The black haired Kurosaki twin pointed at his shoulder. "And that is in no way a scratch."

Two teal eyes glanced at her with a blank expression. This caused a hand to reach up and grab his ear and suddenly begin to drag him back towards the house. "Ouch! What are you..."

The sudden movement caused him to suddenly go off balance and crash into the female. Karin then went off balance for a few seconds but regained her composure. "See. You aren't doing well."

"I'd do better if I wasn't being off set on my balance by you pulling on my ear." The complaint caused her to simply look at him strangely. After a few seconds of silence she grabbed the sleeve of his uniform and began to drag him away that way. "I'm honestly all right. What is the big deal?"

"You tell me this isn't a game, but here you go acting like it is." Karin's eyes narrowed. "You are such a pain in the neck."

"I don't understand why you are even bothering." Toshiro's words snapped out.

"It has to do with the fact you are a quest in our house." The girl stated firmly. "How can you be so stupid."

The white haired preteen took a deep breath of frustration and followed along at her pace. "_I can just use kido to heal myself." _His free hand reached up to scratch his head. "You know, I could possibly remidy the situation by..."

"...by receiving first aide attention." Karin muttered, her mood rather dark.

"People can't exactly see me." Toshiro felt the corner of his mouth twitch as his mind tried to comprehend what she was thinking.


	20. Chaos

**Understanding II: School Daze  
~ Chaos **

Two bright teal eyes glowered at the hand which dragged him back to the Kurosaki household. The small hand of the female preteen held onto Toshiro's sleeve as if he was a three year old child. "_Seriously. The only person who treated me like this since I entered the academy was Hinamori. And you know Hyorinmaru how I couldn't stand that._"

"_Do you really want to try arguing with her again?_" The dragon let out a stern tone. "_What she is doing isn't causing any harm._"

Toshiro's free hand touched his shoulder at that point and could feel the blood coming out. "_She's not causing any problem is she? I could have had this injury healed up in a matter of seconds._"

"_With your reiatsu acting up like it is?_" The ice zampaktuo admonished the boy.

"_All right. So at this level it would have taken me some time. I still think that would be a better situation then this._" The boy let out a deep sigh as they arrived back at the house. His eyes narrowed at her in a rather grumpy fashion."Can you let me go now? We've gotten back to the house."

"You can knock off that cock ass attitude of yours Toshiro. I don't put up with it with any of my guy friends. I sure am not going to put up with you giving it to me." The girl turned the doorknob and walked into the house. "Where is your body?"

"My body?" Two bright teal eyes blinked suddenly. The girl turned to glare at him again. Glancing at the ground, he spoke up again. "You mean my gigai. It's upstairs in your brother's room."

Karin suddenly pulled him along and up the stairs. "That is simply enough then."

"What the hell do you mean simple enough!" His voice suddenly raised up not so much in anger but in panic.

"You don't need to yell. The only person who can hear you is right here. Yuzu can't come and rescue you. That said, you really don't want her of all people to see you in the mess you are in." The female opened up the door to her brother's room. She saw Toshiro's gigai asleep on the bed having been lulled asleep by the classical music. "I see Ichi-nii isn't home yet."

"What exactly are you planning?" Toshiro felt the color in his face suddenly leave.

"What do you mean what I am planning?" Karin looked him in the face with a rather unamused look.

The boy glanced away. "I don't want to know what kind of torture you have planned. I know that you seriously don't like me."

Two dark eyes looked at him like he was a complete idiot. "People don't go and torture people simply because they don't like them. And I am not going to torture you." She then used her two hands to thrust him towards his gigai. "Get back into your body."

"Hell no!" Toshiro braced himself only to find himself shoved forward. "How stupid can you get?"

"How stupid can you get. You are the person who comment on the fact that people can't see you and preform first aide on you while you on soul form. Despite the fact I can see you it goes without saying that floating bandages are going to be _really _uncool and freak people out." Karin continued to push at his back towards the gigai.

"You're going to be putting me back in my body?" Despite the fact the white haired preteen was pushing with his heels at the ground he found he was being pushed towards the bed in a steady fashion.

"_You are having problems with your reiatsu and your strength. She is going to have an advantage on you. On top of this you have a rather bruised rib cage._"

"If you don't get back into your body I will force you to do so," the female muttered. The irritation was evident in her voice.

"Bite me." Toshiro snapped his words out. "The fact is..."

Karin interrupted him. "Don't make me. The last thing I want is to have another injury I have to treat."

"Excuse me?" The male preteen found himself taken aback by her words. "_She would seriously hurt me just to treat my injuries._"

"_Think of who her father is young master._" The dragon spoke up much to the tenth division taicho's displeasure.

It was then that the other preteen managed to shove the child prodigy part way into his gigai and when that happened the rest was an easy matter as it was easier to go back in completely then struggle to get back out. As he went into his body he felt his injuries transfer to the actual gigai. Toshiro sat up and glared at Karin with a great deal of anger. "Baka!"

"If you yell you'll attract Yuzu's attention." The dark haired twin let out a deep sigh. "As I told you before... you _really _don't want her to see you in this condition."

"Are you such an idiot that you can't listen to people when they are trying to tell you something!" Toshiro continued yelling as his temper had flared up.

"Hypocrite. You aren't listening to what I have to say." Karin let out a deep breath and turned to head towards the door. "I'm going to go get the first aid kit."

"You started it." The boy glared at her as he sat up quickly only to suddenly clutch his side as a sharp feeling of pain emerged.

The girl's tone became exasperated. "No... I didn't."

"Yes you did."Toshiro watched as the girl folded her arms across her chest. "I was trying to tell you I could have taken care of myself. I was trying to tell you this when you first started to drag me back to the house."

"With what supplies Toshiro." Karin continued to glare at him.

Two teal eyes narrowed at her. "With healing kido. I could have easily have patched myself up using that method. Particularly since these injuries are minor compared to some of the others I've received in the past."

"You mean like this one." The girl held her finger in the air and pointed to where the scar from Aizen's blade started and traced it down to where it ended.

Toshiro glanced away and then let out a deep sigh. "Yes. That one I had to have help healing."

"Then you don't need my help?" There seemed to be a disappointed look in her eyes that the boy missed.

"Baka." The child taicho's mouth gritted into a frown. "That's why I was telling you I couldn't go back into my gigai. The injuries to my soul have been transferred to the physical body."

"I'm sorry." Karin took a deep breath. She headed towards the door. "I'll go and get the first aide kit then." She paused in the doorway. "I really am sorry."

The boy sat on the bed while he fumed over the situation he now found himself in. His side and shoulder ached and he placed one hand on the shoulder to try and stop the bleeding. Eventually Karin came back into the room with the kit and a plate of after school snacks. She set her load down and turned to look at the boy.

"I need you to remove your shirt." The girl set the plate next to the kit on the desk.

Toshiro flinched and clutched his ribs. His eyes went wide as he looked right at her. "What do you want me to do?"

"You heard me." Karin paused what she was doing and looked right at him. "I need you to take off your shirt."

"No." The words came tumbling out of his mouth.

"Excuse me?" The female preteens tone became dark.

"I'm not removing my shirt for you. You can very well bandage my shoulder by pulling the sleeve up." The preteen shinigami glanced away as he felt his cheeks blush up.

"I have to take care of your ribs. It will be easier to do if your shirt is off." Karin folded her arms across her chest. "I could just have you lift your shirt up..."

"Hell no." The words came snapping out. "You've already _seen_ me in the bathroom."

"I can't do this with one hand Toshiro." The girl walked over. "What are you so uptight about? As you said I've already seen you. I've seen you completely naked."

His mouth suddenly dropped open as she reached to grab onto his shirt. "Just bandage my shoulder up. I'll wait for your brother home to take care of the rest."

"Toshiro..." Karin paused at her tugging for a few seconds. "My brother _isn't _allowed to help in the clinic _for_ a reason. He doesn't know the meaning of bedside manner."

"_No!_" Toshiro's hand held onto his shirt tightly. His teal eyes glared at her.

"Stop being a baby." The girl hissed the words out.

"I am not comfortable with..." At that point he felt a surge in his reiatsu. One of his hands went to clutch his forehead while Karin had a little better luck with her task as he had only one hand holding on. This quickly changed when Toshiro's body went limp and he collapsed to the bed. He held up a small hand which shook unsteadily. "I need something to eat Kurosaki."

"You'll get something to eat once I get you taken care of first aide wise." The girl began tugging at him in an attempt to get him sitting up. Somehow he managed to turn over onto his stomach despite having injured ribs. Toshiro also continued to voice the fact he didn't want Karin doing the first aide.

As they were arguing the sound of heavy footsteps could be heard from the doorway. "Toshiro. I have something to tell..." There was a pause as both preteens looked up at the person who had entered the room. "Karin, _what _the _hell_ are you doing?"

_Author's note – I've gone and edited the first three chapters for grammatical problems and I hope to get the others done soon too._


	21. Unexpected

**Understanding II: School Daze  
~ Unexpected **

When Ichigo left the school he found himself in a good mood due to the good news he would be able to give Toshiro once he got home. He arrived at home and saw Yuzu in the kitchen working on the preparations for dinner. She looked up at her brother and smiled at him. "Just to let you know Ichi-nii, Toshiro-kun came home from school today because he had a headache.

The teens brown wrinkled up from worry before he headed up the stairs to see how the small shinigami was doing. He figured the good news would possibly ease the pain and frustration the while haired preteen was feeling about the situation he was stuck in. A smirk spread across his face and he headed through the open doorway. "Toshiro. I have something to tell..."

Ichigo found the corner of his mouth twitch at what he saw in front of him. The small boy was on his stomach and his sister Karin of all people was on top of him trying to get Toshiro's shirt off. Both preteens heard him speak and turned their heads. The small shinigami's cheeks flushed while his eyes went wide with horror. The dark haired twin's face was emotionless. "Karin, _what_ the _hell_ are you doing?"

His mind went at first to the idea that Karin was actually picking on Toshiro again. His eyes glanced around and caught site of the first aide kit on the desk along with the after school snacks that were arranged on a plate by none other then Yuzu. He then got a good look at the right shoulder of the male preteen. Obviously Toshiro had somehow gotten injured.

"Ichi-nii." Karin got off the family house guest. "Could you help me? Toshiro isn't cooperating."

The corner of his mouth twitched again and he set his backpack down before heading over to where the boy was now sitting up. "_Please. _She won't listen to me when I told her just to take care of my shoulder. She wants to take care of _all _my injuries."

"I don't see what is wrong with that." Ichigo shook his head wondering where this situation would go. Hands down the relationship between the two preteens that were right now on his bed was precarious and had the chance to turn volatile particularly from the side of his own sister.

"You _don't_ see what is wrong with that?" Toshiro suddenly moved quickly which caused him to flinch and grab his side.

"I need him to remove his shirt so I can bandage up his ribs and make sure none of them are broken." Karin pointed her finger at the boy.

"What the _hell _did you do to get injured like _that_?" Ichigo folded his arms across his chest. He watched as Toshiro's mouth simply dropped open and his face paled. The substitute shinigami let out a deep sigh . "Didn't Karin tell you my family can't trust me when it comes to first aid stuff Toshiro?"

"Duh." The girl got up to get the first aide kit.

"As for you..." The teen turned towards his sister. "Let me make this _very _clear to you Karin. You could have handled this situation a _lot _better then you did. Can't you tell that Toshiro is uncomfortable about something?"

"He's already lectured me about the fact I should have just let him use healing kido and that I shouldn't have shoved him back into his body." The girl let out a sigh as she sat down on the bed. "Or are you referring to the fact I should have gone to dad about this? May I remind you about the fact dad can't see ghosts Ichi-nii."

Ichigo blinked a couple of times and then scratched his head. "I was _talking_ about the fact Toshiro is uncomfortable about something and the fact you didn't even try to figure out what that was. Actually, you _should_ have known from the incident yesterday with the shower. He isn't comfortable being any level of undressed in front of people. And _don't_ you call him a narcissist. He isn't one."

"That doesn't change the fact I need to do something about his ribs." Karin pointed her finger again.

"I know that. Getting on top of him though Karin... really? Couldn't you have thought of another solution?" Ichigo gave the male preteen a look that said he was honestly sorry about the situation. "You know that we don't have much choice. I can't contact Orihime outside of school."

Toshiro looked down as his cheeks flushed red. He reluctantly began to pull his shirt over his head. "I understand that..."

The preteens skin suddenly paled further and his eyes suddenly became distant. On top of the fact his words stopped coming out he also let go of his shirt and tilted towards the bed. The substitute shinigami reached down to support the boy's body only to find it was shaking violently. The oldest Kurosaki looked at the dark haired twin. "Karin, what the hell is going on?"

"He might be going through shock because of his injuries?" The girl looked at her brother with dark eyes. "Could you get his shirt off?"

Reluctantly Ichigo complied. As he pulled the shirt over the white head of hair he head Toshiro let out a whimper of pain. When the clothing was pulled away he saw that the boy's eyes were squeezed shut. Karin prodded the boy's ribs carefully and then began to bandage Toshiro's side so that he couldn't move easily.

"Are any of his ribs broken?" Ichigo asked.

"His ribs have a few fractures in them and I think there is a problem with his lung." The girl spoke up before she went to patching up Toshiro's arm and stitched it back together. "We need to deal with the shock he's in."

"It isn't shock." The words came out of the white haired preteens mouth. "My reiatsu's tanked."

"That means?" Karin looked at him with a confused look on her face.

"My energy level has dropped."

"So like diabetes." The girl got up while Ichigo helped Toshiro put the shirt back on. She brought the plate of food over and pushed some into the boy's mouth. "I really goofed up today. I'm sorry for not listening to you. Are you going to be able to go to school with that injury?"

"I think it is time that we go get dad." Ichigo stood up letting out a deep sigh. "I know you are good at first aide but these are some pretty serious injuries. Why didn't you go and get his help in the first place?"

"Why didn't you tell me anything about being a shinigami? Obviously it was because you didn't think I could see them. So it goes without saying that I shouldn't tell dad about something he won't even begin to understand."

"Dad's never asked questions about my injuries before. He was more concerned about getting me patched up. I know that you are stubborn about your own injuries when you play soccer but this honestly isn't one of those times it is a good idea."

"Well, what would you have done Toshiro?" Karin turned towards the boy.

"I was thinking that going to your father wouldn't be a bad idea." The boy's head drooped. "You mean that I didn't have to?" The boy lay down though due to the fact his body felt weak. There was a distant look in his eyes.


	22. Emergency

**Understanding II: School Daze  
~ Emergency**

Isshin had just finished closing down the clinic when Ichigo suddenly slammed the door open. "How many times do I have to tell you not to do that?"

"Dad... something is wrong with Toshiro. Karin and I tried giving him first aid but he just got worse." The orange haired teen spoke up.

The head of the household felt his skin suddenly go pale and he found himself hurrying to where Ichigo told him the small shinigami was. When he got to the room he found Karin sitting on the edge of his son's bed with a worried look on his face. Toshiro's face was likely paler then Isshin's. His eyes were glazed over and his breathing came out ragged while his small fingers clutched onto the bed.

"What exactly happened?" Isshin's tone was serious. "Better yet tell me where he is injured."

"His ribs and a gash on his right arm." Karin glanced at the ground.

"Why didn't you come and get me?" The man shook his head before grabbing his cell phone and dialing a number. He scooped the small boy into his arms and headed for the stairs. "Ichigo, keep an eye on your sisters."

"But..."

"I don't want to hear an argument!" The man snapped his words out and he headed out the door. He hoped the person he called would pick up soon.

"_Isshin? Why are you calling? You know I'm busy at work._" The man on the other side of the phone spoke up.

"If you are at work Ryuken all the better." Isshin's voice carried a serious tone.

"_In other words you have a medical emergency. Which one of your kids is it this time?_" The man said.

"The one you haven't met." Isshin continued to speak as he hurried in the direction of the hospital. "I _know _you don't like shinigami but you are also the _only _person I can turn to right now without drawing unneeded attention to myself or the rest of my family. _Plus_, you made a promise to Masaki that you would look out for _all_ of our kids."

"_I always knew you would use __that__ promise against me. You're telling me that you've had a run in with that former fukutaicho of yours that Masaki told me about? I know full well that both of you consider him to be one of your kids so I can't refuse. Not that I would refuse if you didn't. A child is a child and my dislike for shinigami would get pushed aside._"

"Thank you." Isshin stated. "I'm almost there, I'm crossing the railroad tracks right about now."

"_You're running? You've always been an idiot you know."_

"I've also regained some of my speed from when I was a soul reaper." The man stated. The former taicho glanced down at the current and saw that Toshiro was looking at him with a look of confusion on his face as the phone clicked off. "I guess my one-sided conversation was confusing so I'll likely owe you an explanation later on."

Isshin arrived and found some nurses there to greet him and they waved him in. "Kurosaki Sensei... the director's prepared a room and he's waiting for you in there."

The former captain of the tenth division hurried followed the woman as they hurried forward and he walked into the room that Uryu's father was standing in. He set the small child down on the bed while Ryuken went to the door and put up a sign asking for no one to enter. Isshin began to feel the child's body with his hands and he let out a deep sigh. "His reiatsu is tanked."

The other man came forward. "I'll go and get him a drip and and oxygen machine."

Isshin began to work on stitching up the boy's shoulder and the other man came back and placed an oxygen over the boy's mouth before pushing a needle from the drip into Toshiro's arm. The former taicho of the tenth division let out a deep sigh. "Thankfully the rib isn't broken, but slightly fractured . His lung is deflated though."

"Can you use healing kido on him. Wasn't that a technique you retained despite losing your other powers?" Uryu's father suddenly asked.

"Yeah, yeah. The kid normally can heal himself up quite passably but he's never done well with the physical body and his reiatsu levels are horrible." Isshin worked at replenishing the child's kido levels. "I thought he had control over his power usage before I left."

The other man didn't say anything and soon Toshiro's breathing was normal. The boy's eyes which had been glazed over suddenly focused on the man with the glasses while he removed the oxygen mask. The IV though remained in. "How are you feeling?"

"Better..." The small child sat up only to slap a hand on his forehead as he felt woozy.

"Toshiro... what happened?" Isshin frowned at the child.

"I..." Two teal eyes looked at the one man with curiosity. "Who are you? Are you a Quincy? Are you related to that other one?"

"I guess this morons stories about you having an acute sense of things is true. My name is Ishida Ryuken. Ishida Uryu is my son. And yes, I am a Quincy."

Isshin pushed the child back down so that he was lying down again. The boy spoke up. "I thought Quincy didn't like Shinigami?"

"Are you referring to the fact I treated you knowing full well that you were a shinigami? My job as a doctor comes first and we don't show prejudice to those who need our treatment." The man pushed his glasses up. "Or do you mean how I came to know this fool?"

"I'm wondering how you came to know the old fool." The words came out of the child's mouth without Toshiro really thinking about what he was saying. "I figure you know very well that he was a former shinigami, so my being one is a rather mute point."

Ryuken's eyebrow's raised up in amusement though the frown on his face stayed the same. Isshin though scratched his head. "Do both of you have to call me a fool?"

"Well... you are one." The man folded his arms across his chest. "None of our children know this, but Kurosaki Isshin's dead wife is actually my younger sister. I made a promise to her a long time ago and truth be told that promise includes you."

"Why did you have to tell him that?" The bearded male scratched his chin.

"He's already keeping you a secret from Soul Society, it is likely he'll keep that too." The man headed towards the door. "I need to get back to my normal work routine. I expect you to stay over night, particularly since your reiatsu levels are going up and down like they are."

_Author's note ~ This chapter was awkward to write. I hadn't planned on including another one of my "theories" in the storyline but then again, I hadn't planned on involving Ryuken at first. I realized though Toshiro had a pretty serious injury that Karin couldn't take care of last chapter and thus... Uryu's father got involved. That said, even with this author's note I think I'm going to be getting questions that need to be answered..._


	23. Parental Prerogative

**Understanding II: School Daze  
~ Parental Prerogative**

Isshin watched the small child as he was propped up in the hospital bed. The child was abnormally silent despite the fact this normally would have been the time that Toshiro would have been blabbing and explaining everything. The man let out a deep sigh and reached up to scratch his dark hair. "Toshiro..."

Two teal eyes glanced up with a disturbingly relaxed look, one that seemed fake. "Yes taicho?

"Do you mind telling me what happened to you today? I swore you were supposed to be upstairs resting." The man crossed his arms and sat down in the chair. "_I wonder if he doesn't think what happened was a big deal or he's purposefully trying to hide something from me._" Toshiro's face faltered suddenly. "_He's keeping something from me._"

Toshiro glanced at his hands. "You promise not to be mad at Karin if I tell you everything like you want me to tell you?"

"I'm already mad at her for not coming and getting me when the situation was obviously out of her hands." Isshin closed his eyes in frustration, again rubbing the top of his head.

"She didn't know that I could have healed myself using kido, so..." The boy didn't expect the man to suddenly stand up and come towards him. He suddenly found himself clutching a stinging right cheek where the man had chosen to slap him hard.

"You _think_ you could have handled _those_ injuries on your own Toshiro?" The man felt like everything he had worked for with the boy was suddenly crumbling to pieces.

A smile crept across the boy's face and he shut his eyes. There was honestly something creepy about the look, not to mention off setting about what Toshiro said next. "I think it is better that you be mad with me about the situation then her."

Isshin suddenly grabbed the boy by the front of the hospital gown and placed his face right in front of the child's. "You think I am mad at you? Are you an idiot?"

The smile left the small taicho's face. "You slapped me though. I did something wrong, didn't I?"

"You really think that the emotion I am feeling right now is anger?" The man let go of Toshiro's clothing, his mood darkening drastically. "I'm angry with Karin, yes. But the feeling I am feeling right now the most is fear. When Ichigo brought me up to his room and I saw you like that, I thought I was going to lose you."

"That has nothing to do with you slapping me!" The boy's eyes suddenly flashed with anger and frustration.

"It doesn't? My fear of losing you abated when we got you fixed up. And then you had to go and say _that_." Isshin snapped the words out. "As I said Toshiro, do you think that you could have handled those injuries on your own?"

"Taicho..." Two small hands clutched the bed sheets tightly. "I understand that I am supposed to be acting more my age. I also understand I am supposed to be accepting the fact there are going to be times that I am going to be treated as a child until I am full grown. However... I am a shinigami, a captain of the gotei thirteen. Don't treat me like I'm a child when it comes to my abilities in this regaurd."

The man gritted his teeth and there was a resounding slapping sound across the other cheek. A tear managed to trickle down on that side while a small had reached up and touched it from shock. "Why? You've never treated me like this before. Why are you so mad at me?"

"I am _not _mad at you. You're scaring me Toshiro." Isshin took a deep breath and sat down, figuring this method was not working for obvious reasons. "This _isn't _about me thinking you couldn't heal yourself like the other high ranking officers. It has to do with the fact that you had an injury that needed to be healed by another person and your reiatsu was tanking."

The man continued, "My _problem_ is your inability to assess the situation when it comes to yourself. You aren't aware of the things that may hurt and kill you and you brush off the fact you almost died as if it was nothing. And you wonder why I am upset?"

"It is the cold hard truth that all shinigami die taicho. I resolved to that fact a long time ago, long before you left Soul Society."

Isshin found himself glancing up again. While Toshiro didn't have his eyes closed, that grin crept across his face again. The man stood up and reached for Toshiro's face. The boy flinched but he managed to grab his face and force two teal eyes to look him straight in the face. A level of fear at how the man would react was obviously there.

"Do you understand that you are scaring me again Toshiro?"

"You're just mad at me." The boy glanced down and tried reaching up to pull the hands away.

"No you don't!" Isshin snapped the words out. "What you just said confirmed what I was afraid about, what I've been afraid of since I found out about you being sent on this vacation of yours. You confirmed what I think everyone else has been worried and fearing, that you don't care if you get hurt and you don't care if you die."

Two teal eyes glanced away in frustration. "I don't see the point in the conversation we're having taicho."

"Except you're doing it _again_!" The man grumbled. "Please look me in the face." The man frowned when he realized he was getting no response. "I asked you, if you realized that you were scaring me."

"Taicho isn't scared of anything..." Toshiro continued to look at his hands.

Isshin let out a sigh. "I'm scared of my children getting hurt or dying." The man watched as the boy pulled away, refusing to look him in the face. The former taicho of the tenth stood up. "Look, I'll leave it at this today as you have enough to think about. I'll ask you tomorrow what happened between you and Karin."

He got all the way to the door, when he heard a small voice from behind him."Taicho! Wait!"

The man glanced over his shoulder and smiled at the boy. He saw that Toshiro had gotten back into the bed and had pulled the sheets back up. The child still refused to look him in the eye. "What is it Toshiro?"

"I didn't just scare you, did I? Could you tell your family not to worry about me?"

The smile suddenly disappeared from the man's face. "You aren't exactly fine either."

"I'm not saying to tell them I'm fine. And please don't get mad at her. It isn't fun to be yelled at, even when one deserves it."


	24. Repeat Embarrassment

**Understanding II: School Daze  
~ Repeat Embarrassment**

Resting and staying still had never been the small taicho's strong point unless he happened to be doing something he enjoyed and could focus his mind on. There was also that smell that permeated places of healing and he found himself pulling the sheets up to cover his nose. "_Why do I have to be so sensitive to this kind of stuff?_"

Somehow he managed to get some form of sleep and time passed as he dozed off. He could tell as the position of the sun kept changing outside the window. Eventually the doctor who had helped Isshin treat him came into the room. "I'm letting you know that you can leave now. The nurses washed your clothing."

"Isn't taicho coming?" The boy spoke up as he set his bare feet onto the cold ground. Thinking about the way the man acted the night before he continued looking at his feet. "Maybe not. He knows I usually can take care of myself and I can likely find my way back."

"Normally we don't _let _minors walk out of the hospital on their own, but if Isshin doesn't show up feel free to leave." The man pushed up his eyeglasses before leaving the room, shutting the door behind him. This wasn't before he added something. "It isn't like Isshin to not come and get one of his kids."

Toshiro let out a deep sigh before reaching up to pull the hospital gown over his head so he could change into the pile of clothes the doctor had left at the foot of his bed. He couldn't see what was going on, but he suddenly froze as the door suddenly clicked open and he heard the voice of two females physically his age. His cheeks suddenly flushed a deep red, realizing full well what was going on.

"Toshiro-kun?" Yuzu's voice suddenly changed to one of confusion.

The boy pulled the clothing back down and gave them a bewildered look. Karin shoved her sister out the door and then walked over to Toshiro and dropped a package of clothing into his lap. "Since class was over, Yuzu and I thought we'd come and pick you up. We decided you would prefer to wear a fresh set of clothes, but I see yours got washed."

"Thank you..." Toshiro glanced at the ground until the door clicked shut. He quickly began to change his clothes, the red flush on his cheeks not going away. He then stepped out of the room. "Where is your guys dad?"

"Dad? We asked dad this morning if we could come and get you after school and he said yes." Karin let out a deep sigh. "Which is probably a good thing as he has dug into the clinical work and when that happens he tends to lose track of anything else. You might say it is his escape when he can't do anything about something else that is worrying him."

"I see." He let out a deep breath and they found themselves leaving the hospital.

"We got your assignments from today." Yuzu smiled. "The others in the class are worried about you."

"I don't see why they should be." Toshiro let out a deep sigh. He was glad to have arrived at the house and he headed towards the clinic.

"Can I talk to you?" Karin piped up, causing the boy to startle suddenly.

"Maybe later." He glanced down at the ground. "I really should check in with your dad right now."

He opened the door to the clinic and went and stood in the doorway of the office. Isshin raised his hand up. "If dinner is ready Yuzu, I'll be there after a bit of time."

"Not Yuzu..." Toshiro let his reiatsu flare out a bit, causing the man to look up. "And it isn't even close to dinner time taicho."

The head of the Kurosaki household let out a sigh of relief. "You know that I'm not your taicho anymore. I can't order you around as if you're my subordinate and simply expect you to obey."

"Isn't the relationship between a parent and child like that of a subordinate?" The boy pulled up a second chair. "Is there anything I can help you with?"

"No... but thank you for the offer." Isshin reached for another folder to review. "The normal relationship between a subordinate and the person above them isn't like the relationship of a parent and child. Ichigo is more likely to obey one of his teachers then he is me."

"Isn't that because you try attacking him in the mornings?" The small boy piped up.

"Yes... well..." The man paused setting down the folder. He turned towards Toshiro, frowning as he did so. "This isn't exactly something I can explain in words. They're similar, but they are different. I guess the best way to put it is, family doesn't rely on rank assigned by ability, it relies on rank assigned by seniority. I really don't know how to explain it better."

Toshiro suddenly bowed his head to the man, causing Isshin's eyes to go wide. "I apologize for making you and the rest of the family worry yesterday."

"You don't have to bow." The man scratched his head.

Two teal eyes peeked up from the position. "Why not?' The boy sat up and crossed his arms. "Granny taught me that when you are honestly sorry you're supposed to bow to someone. I _really_ am sorry I made you worry yesterday." The two teal eyes glanced down at the ground. "It isn't easy for me to admit something like this, but I never thought anyone other then granny would be upset if something happened to me."

A smile spread across the man's face. Suddenly, he made a quick bow to the boy. "I need to also apologize for yesterday."

"Taicho..." Toshiro's voice strained.

Isshin sat up and saw the look of frustration on the boy's face. "I honestly shouldn't have hit you like I did yesterday. Sure, I was upset about some of the things you said and I am still honestly worried about you stopping and thinking about your own well being. I still shouldn't have hit you."

"I'm not bothered by that. I mean, it did bother me yesterday, but I also don't think I would have listened to you or believed you if you hadn't hit me." The boy glanced to the side. "You wanted to know what happened between me and Karin yesterday? You didn't get mad at her."

"It was a little hard to do when all three of them were worried about your condition." The man though felt a major relief taken off his shoulders.

"I sensed a Hollow and went to take care of it because Ichigo was still in school. Karin got involved because she is able to see them and she can also see shinigami. I don't know how long she's been fighting Hollow on her own either, but I assume it has been for some time. She may not have come to you for help because she didn't know how to explain to you what happened to us."

"It is as simple as that." Isshin glanced up at the ceiling. "Yet that isn't at all simple. I mean, her being involved adds a whole new level of problems. I suspected something, but as you've noticed, she is a lot better at hiding her spiritual pressure then her older brother."

"If you don't mind, I am going to go and work on my homework." Toshiro made another bow and headed from the room.


	25. Hide and Seek

**Understanding II: School Daze  
~Hide and Seek**

Toshiro opened the door to the kitchen only to have Karin's voice come to his ears. "Can I talk to you now?"

The boy froze and glanced around the kitchen. Yuzu was busy working on the food and her sister was leaning against the counter. He paused a few minutes. "You were waiting for me?"

"Yes. Could we talk about something? And not in front of Yuzu?" The girl had her arms folded across her chest.

Toshiro found himself suddenly paling. "_He got mad at her last night and now she blames me._" He closed his eyes and smiled at her. "I was going to go do my homework. I've got to do both yesterday's and today's."

"I _really_ need to talk to you about this. You can take just five minutes to talk to me." Karin's tone deepened indicating she was becoming frustrated with him.

"I know that your dad got mad at me and you blame me for him being mad but..." The words came out of his mouth without him realizing he was saying them. Karin quickly interrupted him.

"Dad wasn't mad at me last night. Why would you even think that?" The dark haired twin's voice calmed a little from surprise.

Toshiro's cheeks though suddenly flushed up and his eyes went wide. He glanced to the side, gritting his teeth together. "I need to go."

"Toshiro!" Karin's tone darkened again, only to have the boy suddenly head up the stairs. She crossed her arms in frustration.

The small shinigami though went up to Ichigo's room in time to see the orange haired teenager look up. "Hello Toshiro. Have you talked to the others yet."

"I've got homework to do..." Toshiro walked over to the bed and suddenly flopped onto the bed and let out a deep sigh.

"You don't _like_ doing your homework." Ichigo let out a deep sigh, setting down his pencil in order to speak with the kid. He waited for Toshiro to sit back up which took a few minutes."What is going on?"

"Your sister Karin wants to talk to me about something." Two teal eyes glanced at the ceiling. "_I thought it was because she blamed me for getting her into trouble... but._"

"Just talk to her." Ichigo spoke up.

"I can't!" The boy blurted the words out again as he crossed his legs on the bed."I have no clue what she is going to say to me, but it honestly can't be anything good. I've been getting nothing but problems from her."

The orange haired teen let out a deep sigh. "You don't know if she is going to say anything negative to you." He then began to fiddle with his folder. "My teacher put this together for you. If you finished your homework each day you can do some of it."

The boy got up and grabbed the folder and glanced through it. Two teal eyes suddenly became wide as they looked at the contents. "This is advanced math problems."

Ichigo watched as a smile spread on his face. He watched as Toshiro walked over to his backpack and dumped the contents onto the bed so he could begin the school work he tended to dread so much. However, as he did so he suddenly saw his Soul Phone and snapped it open. The small taicho took a good look at the incoming calls and saw that he had been flooded since the night before with calls from his fukutaicho.

Letting out a deep sigh, he turned to the substitute shinigami. "I'm going to the roof to call my fukutaicho. I don't know if she's messed something up in the office or has something else to tell me."

With that he disappeared out of the window. He pressed a few buttons and let the phone ring. Suddenly Rangiku's voice came blaring over the phone at him. "_Taicho! Why haven't you been answering your phone! You made me worried sick wondering what happened to you! A few more hours and I would have been asking for permission to go to the living world to find you!_"

"Aren't you being a bit paranoid? There have been times when I haven' been able to contact you for long periods of time because you are out drinking. How is this different?" The boy frowned at this, finding himself confused about why she was so upset.

"_When you are in the living world you've always answered your soul phone promptly because it might be work related. You're not someone to break this kind of pattern taicho so I know something was wrong._" The woman let out a deep sigh. "_I think I know you well enough to know this is true, taicho._"

The conversations he had with his former taicho suddenly came to mind and he found himself gulping. Without realizing how nervous he sounded when he spoke up, he asked a question. "Rangiku, what do you think of me?"

"_I'm sorry I upset your feelings here taicho but I know for a fact that you are very obsessive about the things you do._" The woman's voice turned to a lecturing tone.

"That wasn't what I meant. The substitute shinigami actually told me I may have... its called obsessive-compulsive disorder or something like that. He said something about figuring out what I obsess over and learning to control my actions, though I don't completely understand what that all means." Toshiro found himself smiling.

"_Are you __telling__ me you didn't pick up the phone __because__ you were trying to control one of your obsessive behaviors? Don't you __dare__ do something like this because I felt like I was going to have a heart attack!_" Rangiku said.

"_Actually... I got beat up by a hollow and ended up having to go to the hospital in the living world to get treated._" The boy felt the corner of his mouth twitch. For some reason the situation was amusing him and he let out a chuckle as he said this.

"_Taicho! This isn't funny! On top of me being correct about you being in trouble you know you're not supposed to get the living world involved with our matters if possible! What is..._" Rangiku's voice panicked.

"I was laughing at the fact you thought I was trying to control my behavior. I haven't started on that stuff and I'm not sure I'm ready to. As for the whole hospital thing, it is actually a long story." Toshiro found himself stifling a laugh, knowing full well she didn't find any of this funny.

"_While I like the fact you are enjoying laughing at yourself taicho, which is a major improvement. However, I don't __care__ how long the story is you are going to tell me. I'm going to keep calling and bugging you until you tell me if you hang up._"

"You still haven't answered my question. If you answer my question I'll tell you what happened." Toshiro stated.

"_Your question about what I think of you. Well, you're my taicho._" Rangiku's tone took a confused tone.

"But is that all I am to you. Is that all I am to you and everybody else? I really need to know Matsumoto." The boy took a deep breath. "I _really_ want to know what you think about me."

"_Taicho... what I have to say to you... I am not sure how you'll take what I have to say. I mean, my feelings towards you aren't anything bad, but it might be something hard for you to comprehend. I don't exactly completely understand the feelings myself._"

Toshiro frowned, wondering how he should press for the answer. "I think I know what your feelings for me are Matsumoto, but I _really_ need you to tell me yourself."

"_All right._" Rangiku let out a deep sigh. "_The honest truth is, when I first saw you I for some reason thought of you as my own little one. I can't explain why I thought this feeling either._"

"That doesn't seem complex though." The boy let out a small laugh. "I mean... its impossible for me to be your biological child. You've never had a child before." There was a pause of silence and Toshiro felt himself panic slightly thinking that what he said had hurt her feelings. "I don't mean to say I don't like the fact you think of me as your own child Matsumoto, it does make a great deal to me. I just don't understand why you're confused about your feelings."

"_I'm not upset with what you've said taicho... it is just..." _Rangiku paused again.

"I might as well tell you I am sorry that I've caused you to worry about me like I did now and in the past. I..." Toshiro paused for a few seconds. "I was going to tell you about what happened yesterday. A hollow went to attack Kurosaki's sister while he was at school and I went to take care of it. She can see spirits too and shoved me back into my physical body so their father ended up taking me to the hospital."

The busty female suddenly let out a laugh. "_That wasn't a long story taicho._"

"I'm not finished. I actually learned something from this experience. I learned that I've been taking my life for granted under the impression that it doesn't matter to anybody. But there are plenty of people who care about me and would be hurt if something happened to me. That is why I asked what you think of me. I honestly don't think I would be able to apologize if you didn't first admit you cared about me. But I had to do it Rangiku."

"_You called me by my first name._" The woman stated. "_Actually, there is a little more to my own story. You said I've never had a child before, but that isn't true. I can't explain how I know I've had a child when I can't remember having that child simply because you're not old enough for an explanation on this, but that is where my confusion comes in._"

"Why though? I don't mind being a replacement Rangiku. The fact you think of me as your own is enough."

"_That isn't it taicho. My feelings for you keep telling me you're that child I can't remember, but that isn't possible because you told me you weren't born in soul society. That's honestly why I haven't brought it up before. Thinking of you as my own child isn't the problem. It is thinking of you as my own flesh and blood when that isn't true. I don't want to push a lie I believe onto you for a selfish reason._"

At first Toshiro wasn't sure how to respond to this, but he finally spoke up. "I think that just proves how much you care about me. I'm not hurt by what you say. I think I actually know you better."

"_I think staying with the substitute shinigami is doing you good taicho. Before you left I'd expect you to go ballistic about this. I should get going now as I do have work to do."_

"Wait, I have another question. Kurosaki's sister has something to talk to me about but she and I haven't been getting along so I don't expect anything except negative comments from her. If you give me a quick answer of what you think I should do before you get back to work it would be very helpful."

"_Let her talk to you. Then it is over with. Let me know how things go with the Kurosaki family. You're doing very well._"

"Thank you." Toshiro hung up the phone. He should have been smiling but one thought bothered him. "_Did I really die on a plain of ice?_"


	26. Conversation

**Understanding II: School Daze  
~Conversation**

The small child swung in through the window, his mind still trying to process what Matsumoto had just told him. Ichigo glanced up in time to see Toshiro come in through the window and saw the look on the boy's face. "Is something wrong?"

Two teal eyes blinked a couple of times. "Nothing is wrong. Everything is fine from what I can tell in Soul Society. I just need to think about some stuff."

With that, he headed to the bathroom to splash some water in his face in order to cool his temperature down and to try to get his mind from racing as fast as it was. He looked first down at the sink and filled his hands with water, before bringing it up to his face. He then placed his hands on the counter and glanced up.

His first reaction upon seeing his face was to make a fist to try and bring it crashing into the mirror, only to stop a few inches away from breaking the glass. His eyes widened suddenly and his hand touched the mirror. He blinked a few times and suddenly found himself for once examining his own face.

"I look like him." A small hand reached up to his white hair, pulling on it slightly in frustration. "_Hyorinmaru... did I really die and go to Soul Society or was I born there?_"

"Toshiro?" The voice of the tomboy preteen caused him to look up. Karin let out a sigh. "Why are you being a narcissist again. It is completely weird you know."

The shinigami taicho simply let go of the strand of hair. "It honestly isn't what you think. I actually hate the way I look a lot."

"Something is bothering you, isn't it?" The girl asked while watching him.

"Yeah, but I can't exactly talk about it. I'm probably mistaken anyways." The boy felt the corner of his mouth turn up slightly."

"Are you trying to avoid me?" Karin asked, causing him to suddenly flinch. "I thought so, but I kind of deserve that reaction from you don't I? Can we please talk? It is important, what I have to say to you."

"Can you promise not to hit me?" Toshiro asked, the words tumbling out of his mouth. He also could feel his muscles tensing up. The look on her face had a level of irritation that made him think she was going to hit him despite the fact he asked her not to.

The dark haired girl let out a deep sigh. "That's kind of what I want to talk to you about. My behavior hasn't been very nice since you got here. Could we go outside so dad and Yuzu don't hear our conversation?"

"Sure..." His body was still tense as he followed her downstairs. She walked over to the fridge and grabbed a couple of drinks before heading outside to sit on the sidewalk. He felt a cold drink shoved against his cheek.

"When you came I didn't realize you were a shinigami like Ichi-nii." Karin stated without opening her own drink.

"I'm not a shinigami like your brother." Toshiro let out a first sigh. "The first major difference is that he is a substitute shinigami, not a real one."

The girl's head darted up to blink a couple of times. "What exactly does that mean?"

"Your brother is still living and he gained his powers before he died and went to Soul Society." The small shinigami glanced away. "_Exactly how much should I be telling her?_"

"This means you're dead Toshiro?" There was a sudden sound of disappointment in the girl's voice and Karin looked at her feet.

Toshiro found himself flinching. "_Why did she have to ask a question that I don't understand myself right now?_" He closed his eyes at that point and let out a deep sigh. "I don't know. If your talking about having a physical form, if it weren't for this artificial body I'd only be able to exist in the world of the living in spirit form. Not everyone in Soul Society originally had a physical form, some were born there."

"You're telling me that spirits have the ability to make babies?" Karin's face twisted up. "Where is the proof that they can?"

A chocking sound escaped the small taicho's throat as he suddenly looked up at the girl, his face suddenly paling. "_I seriously __can't__ tell her that she's actually living proof that a spirit can have kids. Isshin Taicho would kill me. I promised him..._"

The side of a hand came down softly on the top of his head. "What ever perverted thought you are thinking, stop thinking it. I get enough of that from the guys I play soccer with. Actually, I am sick and tired of them talking about the porn magazines they've managed to score..." Two eyes blinked as she watched the cheeks of the boy in front of her suddenly flush up." What ever is the matter?"

"You _thought_ I was thinking _those _kinds of thoughts? What ever prompted you to think _that_!" Toshiro could feel the heat of his cheeks suddenly flush up.

"Weren't you thinking about how babies are made?" Karin asked. While his cheeks lost the flush, it was replaced with a look of confusion in his teal eyes.

"Don't babies come from forth division?" Upon seeing the confused look on her face. He felt the corner of his mouth twitch. "Babies come from hospitals and clinics?"

The dark haired female let out a deep sigh. "You're horribly naïve. That isn't where babies come from."

"Where do they come from?" Toshiro felt his mouth twitch.

He froze though when Karin gave him a nasty look. "I'm not telling you. Can we please get back on track with our conversation?"

"You're the only person who knows where this conversation is going though."

Letting out a deep sigh she spoke up. "I'm not very comfortable with living people, but I am less so with those who are dead. You're neither of those and now that I know I feel more comfortable around you, despite the fact you are seriously weird for a kid our age."

"I'm not your age." Toshiro blinked a couple of times. "People age differently in Soul Society, so while I am physically the same age as you I am actually over forty years old." The look on her face was complete shock. "Did I say something wrong?"

"I find it hard to believe that you are over forty years old when you don't know things that my guy friends already know about. Hell, even Ichi-nii knows about these things despite the fact he doesn't talk about them."

At that, his temper began to boil and his voice raised up. "I am _not _a little kid so don't treat me like one! If there is one _thing _I don't like, it is the fact people choose to treat me like one. I'm also tired of people telling me that they expect me to act my age and yet other times I'm expected to act older then I am. Now you're telling me I act _younger_ then my age!"

"I think you should just act like yourself. So what if you're more mature then our age group in some ways and others you're not? That is what makes you who you are, isn't it?" Karin glanced up at the sky.

Toshiro felt his cheeks flush up. "Why are you being nice to me all of a sudden? You were rather pissed when your brother brought me home to stay with your family."

"About that." The girl pushed her foot across the ground, avoiding the topic for a few seconds. "That's actually what I've wanted to talk to you about. When I first met you I was afraid you'd find out about me being able to see ghosts and tell the kids at school. I wanted you gone before you could find out I was a freak."

"You're not a freak. I am." The boy let out a deep sigh and stood up.

As he dust off his pants so he could go in, Karin grabbed his pant leg. "I'm not finished. I want to apologize for being mean to you and I also want to become friends."

"I accept the..." Toshiro though felt his teal eyes suddenly go wide, his brain beginning to panic. "You... want to be friends? But..."

The girl let go of his pants leg. "I know you possibly don't want to be with the way I treated you, but I still want to be friends with you."

"That isn't." He could feel his voice tightened. "Why would you want to be a friend with a freak like me! My hair and eye color is bizarre and I have an icy aura about me because of my powers! Why would anyone want to be my friend!" The small shinigami watched as she turned to give him a confused look, which caused his cheeks to flush up. He quickly opened the door and slammed it, heading up to Ichigo's room.


	27. Added Confusion

_Author's note – The site got a really awesome update in the last couple of weeks. Now when you go to work on your stories, you can sort them by category. But the REALLY good update for someone with as many fics as I have! You can type in keywords and find the fics a whole lot easier!_

**Understanding II: School Daze  
~Added Confusion**

Ichigo kept working at his homework when he suddenly heard someone's footsteps on the stairway. He didn't bother to move despite the fact he wondered if Karin and Toshiro had gotten into another argument or similar commotion. His attention was diverted from his homework only when the door suddenly opened up with great gusto before slamming good and hard.

The substitute shinigami glanced up, looking straight at Toshiro as the boy suddenly flopped down on the bed, burying his face into the pillow. "What happened this time?" He watched as Toshiro flipped over onto his back, the pillow still clutched to his face. Ichigo decided to test the waters. "You said Karin had to talk to you about something, right? Did you talk to her?"

There was a period of silence as Toshiro thought about what he should say. "Kurosaki, how _are _babies made?"

The substitute shinigami felt the color suddenly drain from his face before he looked up at Toshiro with a bewildered look on his face. "What the _hell_ did the two of you talk about?"

Carefully, Toshiro removed the pillow from his face, his eyes wide. His confusion was quite apparent when he finally spoke up. "Did I say something wrong?"

"You _asked_ me how babies are _made_! Seriously Toshiro, you wouldn't have asked me that question unless you and Karin had a conversation where it was brought up."

"She did tell me that babies don't come from forth division... or in the living world you would say the hospital." Toshiro stated, sitting up to look at the orange haired teen.

"Toshiro... I want to know how this conversation between you and Karin started."

"She's the one who brought up the fact she was tired of her friends and porn magazines." The boy commented.

Ichigo's jaw dropped, and he shook his head at the boy. "But _why _did she bring that up with you, of _all _things?"

"She said she thought I was thinking about how babies were made." Toshiro frowned.

"Now why would she say that?" The older teen pushed farther.

"I honestly don't know why she said that. I just know she hit me over the head because she thought I was thinking something perverted. But I don't know how thinking about how babies are made is perverted at all." The boy's eyes reflected his lack of knowledge of the situation.

Ichigo let out a deep breath, knowing the conversation he was going to have with Toshiro wasn't going to go well. "Toshiro, do you know what sex is?"

"Gross. This is _not _a topic for polite conversation."

"I figured you would say that." Ichigo let out a deep sigh.

"Of course I know what sex is. As a captain of the Gotei Thirteen I've had the unfortunate pleasantry of walking in on some of my own division members doing it. A few times Matsumoto wasn't there to cover my eyes either, and even when she was there was times she wasn't fast enough. I've also had to deal with discipline reports for such actions while members were on duty, not to mention transfers of one member. Oh... and Kyoraku Taicho is a pervert."

The orange haired teen shook his head. "You _know_ what sex _is_, but you don't know how babies are made?"

Two teal eyes blinked a couple of times. "Are you telling me that babies are made by two people having sex?"

"Bingo."

Toshiro's face first lost all color and then gained a green tinge. "You mean to tell me that whoever my parents are, they had to have sex with each other?"

"Yes..." Ichigo's brown eyes widened and a chuckle tried escaping his chest. "_I figured this out around the time Karin and Yuzu were born!_"

"So if my parents were Ichimaru Gin and Matsumoto Rangiku, that means they _had_ to have sex with each other?" The words squeaked out Toshiro's mouth, before he bit down on his lip.

The substitute shinigami's mouth opened and then closed. "Where did _that _come from?"

Two hands reached up and clutched his ears. "That is so _gross_! I shouldn't exist! I don't _want_ to exist!"

Ichigo stood up and walked over to the small taicho. Carefully, he pulled Toshiro's hands away from his ears. "You do realize by your logic nobody should exist? I wouldn't exist if my parents didn't do it and neither would Karin or Yuzu." Instead of helping the situation, Toshiro's face turned a greener shade. Thus came the second attempt. "And our parents wouldn't exist if their parents didn't do it, and so on and so forth."

The small shinigami simply flopped back, placing a hand over his eyes. "I get it. I really do get it. It doesn't change the fact finding that out is gross. Particularly after always thinking those two never went at it. But that means I can't be their child if they've never gone at it, right?"

"You really need to explain what you're talking about."

"I don't know if you've met my fukutaicho, but you do know who Ichimaru Gin is." Toshiro let out a deep breath of air.

"He's the guy who stopped us from entering and one of the two guys who went with that Aizen guy." Ichigo then let out a deep breath. "Isn't your fukutaicho the lady who offered us minors sake?"

"That... would likely be Matsumoto." The boy uncovered one eye. "Gin and Rangiku have always been good friends. That is possibly a hard thing to believe because his personality isn't very sociable. But she was the one person he got along with and she always... was always... worrying about him. I found out recently that she had a baby before, but didn't remember having that baby. The most likely candidate is Gin."

"If Matsumoto had a baby then she's had sex Toshiro." Ichigo shook his head. "You are thinking you might be their child?"

The boy sat up, realizing then he had said somethings he possibly shouldn't have. "Don't tell Matsumoto that I blabbed to you about her having a baby. She had problems telling me. And... I can't tell her I don't believe I died and came to Soul Society anymore. She's got enough pain as it is, and if people were to find out she had _his_ kid. I don't want that."

"But why do you think you're their kid?"

"You look like your mom as does one of your sisters, while the other looks like your dad." Toshiro frowned.

"So you look like Gin." Ichigo shrugged his shoulders.

"We also have very similar personalities There are a lot of things we have in common." The boy glanced at his lap.

"That doesn't mean anything really." The substitute shinigami let out a sudden laugh. "With that logic I should be related to the Shiba clan, right?"

Toshiro found himself chocking back a laugh. "_Moron... you ARE related to the Shiba clan!_" However, he conceded the point. "You're right. Personality doesn't guarantee someone is related to each other. The Kuchiki's have similar personalities, but they aren't at all blood related."


	28. Another Side

**Understanding II: School Daze  
~Another Side**

Karin felt saying her day was rough was an understatement of what had occurred. It started off when they got to school without Toshiro. When they arrived, Karin and Yuzu headed to the office with a letter for their teacher.

"How are you two doing today? It is a nice day out so you should be spending it outside until the bell for class rings." The weather put the female teacher into a good mood.

Yuzu handed the piece of paper over to the woman. "Toshiro isn't going to be able to come to class today."

The woman glanced down, her mood changing. "Hitsugaya-kun is in the hospital today?"

"He got hurt and dad had to take him in. He should though be better tomorrow." Karin stated.

"Well, I'm not surprised that he's in the hospital. I take it he was in another fight then?" The vice principle's snide voice sounded with triumph.

"Toshiro-kun wasn't in a fight." Yuzu spoke up, her hands on her hips and her lips twisted into a pout.

"Do you have any proof that he wasn't in a fight?" The man spluttered.

"Well..." The brown haired twin glanced at the ground.

"Don't listen to him Yuzu. He's someone who judges people by their looks and isn't worth our time." Karin tugged on her sister's sleeve and they headed off to class. "_Of course, Toshiro 'did' get hurt in a fight. It isn't the type of fight this loser was thinking of though._"

The girls went outside for awhile and Karin found herself suddenly surrounded by her friends. "You know this Hitsugaya person?"

Karin grimaced. "My older brother knows him better then I do. He's the one who brought Toshiro to stay at our house."

One of her friends got closer to her face, causing her to glance up. "So you're saying he's staying at your place?"

"I don't get why you guys are so interested in him." The girl found herself glad when the bell rang, but not for long. Nabara Yami went and asked Yuzu where Toshiro was and she ended up finding out that the white haired youth was at the hospital. If Karin had her way, the answer would have been "_none of your business._"

The next thing she knew the girls where whispering to themselves about something. Yami and her group approached Yuzu after class. "Are you going and visiting Toshiro-kun in the hospital?"

Karin's sister opened her mouth to say something only for the other female to slap a hand over the girls mouth. "I want to know why you ask."

"I want to visit him in the hospital of course." The girl suddenly batted her eyelids. "I am quite sure he would appreciate a visit."

"You don't even know him." Karin piped up. "Yuzu and I are just going to head home."

She tugged Yuzu after her and they arrived at their lockers. The light haired twin frowned at her sister. "I got permission from dad to pick Toshiro-kun up from the hospital. You remember, right?"

"I remember all right. I have his change of clothes in my bag." The darker twin frowned at her sister. "We don't have Toshiro's permission to bring classmates."

"I guess that would be impolite. You could have said something to Yami-chan you know."

"Except Nabara doesn't know the meaning of no." Karin let out a deep sigh and they found themselves headed to the hospital.

"How do you think Uncle Ryu is doing all right?" Yuzu suddenly asked.

"Who?" The small female shook her head at the other.

"Don't you remember? He's dad's friend and he's the director of the hospital. Dad said we can call him Uncle Ryu when we see him and Ryu didn't argue about it."

"I don't remember any of this." Karin let out a deep sigh.

"The last time we saw him was when you got injured playing soccer the last time."

"I remember seeing a man with silver hair, but I remember our only uncle having brownish hair. I remember seeing him briefly at Mom's funeral and dad said it was her brother."

"He's not related to us Karin. He's just a friend of daddy's." Yuzu pouted.

Finally they arrived at the hospital. When they first arrived Karin and Yuzu found themselves being told no, they couldn't just go visiting without an adult present. However, a man came up behind them. "It's all right. Hitsugaya Toshiro is ready to check out. I am wondering where Isshin is."

Karin watched as her twin turned around and without any restraints hugged the stranger with white hair. He honestly looked familiar, but something didn't seem to fit with her memory. Her sister was quite happy. "Uncle Ryu."

The man very calmly patted the girl on the head before giving the girls the room Toshiro was in and heading on his other rounds. Karin though wasn't happy. "I can't believe you did that Yuzu."

"It isn't as if he is a complete stranger Karin." Yuzu muttered as Karin pulled the package of clothing out of her bag. Yuzu's hand reached for the door and swung it open.

The dark haired twin found her eyebrow raising again as her sister had yet again shown a lack of restraint. Toshiro had the hospital robe pulled over his head and had frozen as the two girls came into the room. Yuzu blinked a couple of times as the situation went over her head. "Toshiro-kun?"

Karin then watched as the small shinigami slowly pulled the gown back down. On top of having a confused look on his face the dark haired preteen noticed that his face was starting to flush a vivid red. She walked over to where he was sitting on the bed and dropped the clothes onto his lap. "Since class was over Yuzu and I thought we'd come to pick you up We decided you would prefer to wear a fres set of clothes, but I see yours got washed."

As she turned to leave she was quite sure she heard a thank you escape his lips. When he stepped out of the room his cheeks were still flushed, making Karin glad they had avoided Yumi's little band. He asked where Isshin was and she shrugged it off. There was a lack of conversation but Karin knew full well she needed to speak to him about yesterday.

To her dismay though Toshiro proceeded to avoid her. He headed first to see her father and then he headed to Ichigo's room with the excuse that he was going to do homework. Eventually she went up stairs and happened to catch him pulling on a strand of white hair. Letting out a sigh, she spok up. "Toshiro? Why are you being a narcissist again? It is completely weird you know."

"It honestly isn't what you think." The next thing out of his mouth surprised her. "I actually hate the way I look a lot."

"_Then the reason he's nitpicking his appearance has nothing to do with him being a narcissist._" Karin found herself picking up on the frustration leaking out. "Something is bothering you, isn't it?"

"Yeah, but I can't exactly talk about. I'm probably mistaken anyways."

Karin watched him grimace again at the mirror. "Are you trying to avoid me?" She watched as he flinched and gave her a look out of the corner of the eye. "I thought so, but I kind of deserve that reaction from you don't I? Can we please talk? T is important, what I have to say to you."

Karin watched as he began to fidget. "_He's very uncomfortable around me. I should have been more hospitable._"

"Can you promise not to hit me?"

"_Yeah... he's __really__ uncomfortable around me..._"


	29. Forcing the Hand

**Understanding II: School Daze  
~Forcing the Hand**

When Toshiro left her Karin let out a sigh before stretching her arms behind her head. "_I need to think of a way to convince him that I want to be friends with him._"

She stood up and walked into the house. Yuzu poked her head out of the kitchen. "How did it go with Toshiro-kun?" Karin absentmindedly reached up to scratch her head. Before she could say something her sister spoke up again. "You weren't mean to him again."

"I wasn't being mean to him."

"Then why did Toshiro-kun slam the door." The light haired girl held her cooking utensil almost as if she was going to start waving it and start a lecture.

Karin pushed her lips together before plopping down onto the couch and letting out another sigh. "I wasn't mean to him this time around. I told him I want to be friends."

"Toshiro said he didn't want to be friends because of how you treated him then? Is that why he is angry at you?" Her sister folded her arms and frowned at her.

"No. He's actually not angry at me. He's actually surprised I wanted to be friends with him." Two dark eyes looked right at Yuzu. "Do you have any suggestions? You're able to make friends with everybody."

Two brown eyes glanced at the ceiling. "I don't know how I am able to make friends with people. I don't know how Toshiro and I became friends but I do know we're friends."

"You might want to tell him that Yuzu." Karin found herself inwardly chuckling.

"Why? Shouldn't he already know that? I mean... I know it." The small girl went back to her cooking then leaving her twin to think about what she needed to get done. Eventually Yuzu went upstairs and into the clinic to let people know dinner was ready. Karin got up and sat down at the table before placing her elbows on the table.

Out of boredom she watched as people came to the table. The first was her father who had a smirk on his face. "My kids are all safe and home."

Ichigo came downstairs with Toshiro behind him. The white haired preteen remained silent as he pulled back the chair and sat down. He also refused to look Karin in the face right away. When he glanced up for a few seconds his cheeks flushed up before looking away. Yuzu began to dish up the food to each person. Toshiro picked at the food with his fork.

Isshin was the one who broke the silence. "How's your homework coming Toshiro."

The small shinigami choose at this time to stick a piece of food into his mouth. As he startled he began to choke on the food. He paused for a few minutes as he clapped a hand on his chest. "I... oh boy."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Yuzu spoke up as she began to eat her own food.

"Ahh..." There came a scuffing of feet on the floor from where Toshiro was sitting.

"He hasn't done any of his homework yet." Ichigo shoved food into his mouth before pointing a finger at Karin. "By the way, why did you have to bring up _that _subject with him?"

"What subject? You mean the fact I asked him to be friends?" Karin watched as the white haired youth's mouth opened and closed.

"No. I mean you brought up the subject of how babies are made." Ichigo glared at his dark haired sister. "I did not appreciate explaining that to him."

For the second time that night Toshiro chocked on his food. He pounded his fist on his chest as his cheeks flushed up. Yuzu however blinked a couple of times. "Aren't babies brought by some sort of magical creatures?"

"Of course Yuzu!" Isshin piped up just as Toshiro's mouth opened and wavered for a few seconds before snapping shut.

"What was the problem with talking about magical creatures?" The light haired girl asked, her big brown eyes begging for an answer.

"Ichi-nii is a big boy. Big boys don't like talking about that stuff because it is embarrassing." Karin let out a laugh as she watched her brother fidget.

"That's... just... don't go there." Ichigo grumbled. "You know why so I won't say anything more."

Isshin took the time to speak up. "Karin, you said something about asking Toshiro to be friends. I take it my daughter's attitude towards him has changed?"

"Toshiro knows Ichi-nii and I can see ghosts and I trust him not to say anything at school." The female took some more food while Toshiro continued to pick at his.

The man glanced over at Toshiro. "How come she's willing to talk to you about that?"

The boy felt his eyebrow suddenly twitch and his mouth opened to say something. Karin let out a snorting sound. "So says the father who acts like he's younger then us."

To everyone's dismay the man hurried over to the poster and began sobbing to his dead wife. Toshiro felt his cheeks flush up again. Yuzu took the time to speak up. "If you need help on your homework we can help you Toshiro."

The boy stabbed a piece of meet. "I really don't need help. Thank you anyways."

Isshin calmed down and came back to the table. "Nee... Toshiro. What was your answer to Karin-chan asking you to be friends?"

Toshiro's mouth opened wide and he stopped moving his food on his plate. He then glanced away. There was a long period of silence while the man stared at the boy. Karin however suddenly spoke up. "Can I ask you something Ichi-nii?"

"What?" The boy asked.

"It wasn't easy to make friends when you were younger, right?" The girl faced her brother but out of the corner of her eye looked over at Isshin and Toshiro.

"I guess you remember me getting picked on for my hair color when I was younger. Why did you..." Ichigo paused and suddenly looked at Toshiro. "Oh."

"Oh what?" The small boy continued to pick at his food.

"You're the one who brought up your looks earlier." Karin stated.

"I'm not sure what this has to do with anything. It proves my point that nobody would want to be friends with me." Toshiro set down his utensils. "I'm full."

"Why wouldn't we want to be your friends Toshiro-kun?" Yuzu stated. "Those people who didn't want to be friends with Ichi-nii were mean. That isn't a reason to be friends with people. You're a very nice person and you and I are friends, right?"

"Stay and eat." Isshin piped up. "You don't have to give Karin and Yuzu an answer right away. It is a rather new concept for you so it may take some time getting used to.


	30. Confusion

**Understanding II: School Daze  
~Confusion******

"Why wouldn't we want to be your friends Toshiro-kun?" The statement from Yuzu caused Toshiro to look up with a surprised look on his face. He listened as she went into how he was a nice person and how the people who hadn't wanted to be his friends had just plain been mean.

Isshin must have picked up on his discomfort because the man demanded that he stay, knowing full well that the only way Toshiro would feel comfortable would be to force him into getting used to what made him feel discomfort. He continued to pick at his food until the others were done and then headed up the stairs, still thinking about what Yuzu had said as well as Isshin. "_You don't have to give Karin and Yuzu an answer right away._"

"_I want to say yes, but..._"

"_They're the daughters of your former taicho. Why are you hesitating in saying that you do want to be friends with them?_"

"_I'm not sure I can trust Karin._"

"_No... you know full well that you can trust Karin, it is something else. Like the fact you'll eventually have to go back to Soul Society._"

"_Which is why I think sending me here is a bunch of crap!_" Toshiro suddenly found himself reaching for his soul phone and looking at it for a few minutes. He found himself biting lightly on his lip as he made the call.

"_Hello. This is Ukitake Taicho._"

"It's me... Hitsugaya."

"_Shiro-chan! How are you feeling! I hope you're doing better._" There was a sudden silence and the man spoke up. "_You aren't doing better, are you? If you're calling to get me to try and convince the head captain to let you back, I don't think even I or Kyoraku can get him or Unohana to budge on this one._"

"No... I just wanted to talk. Has Matsumoto told you what's going on with me?"

"_No... she's actually believe it or not doing her work. Is being in the living world that uncomfortable to you?_"

"Yes." There came the truthful answer. "The substitute shinigami's dad decided I needed to go into an elementary school class."

"_..._" Ukitake remained silent, only to cough for a bit. He spoke up. "_Shiro-chan, you do know it will likely be good for you to socialize with those your own age, so it would possibly be an opportunity to get back here sooner rather then later._"

"It's boring as hell, but I do agree with that assessment. I'm actually in the same class as Kurosaki's two sisters."

"_Why not make friends with them then?_"

"That's actually why I called." Toshiro remained silent while Ukitake waited for him to speak. "I actually wasn't getting along with one of them for a bit, but I found out why that was. But... the other one said something that makes me really uncomfortable and I don't know why."

"_What did she say?_"

"She asked me why she and her sister wouldn't want to be my friends."

"_And?_"

"I can think of a lot of them. The way I look, the way I am around others. I couldn't make those arugements to her though."

"_Why not?_"

"She said not being friends with someone because of the way they looked was mean and then she told me that I was a nice person."

"_Ahh... she countered your arguments before you could even make them. What seems to be the problem?"_

"It still feels like something is in the way. I told Hyorinmaru that it was because I'm uncomfortable and he said no, that wasn't the real reason."

"_If Hyorinmaru said that then it is true. Let me think..._" Ukitake spoke up a few minutes later. "_Perhaps it has to do with the fact you're from Soul Society and they're from the living world. Eventually you're going to have to say good-bye and the next time you'll see them they'll likely both be older then you._" There was another pause. "_You still shouldn't let that hold you._"

Toshiro rolled over onto his side and pinched his nose. "There are also Soul Societies laws..."

"_Go ahead and be friends with them._"

"But..."

"_If anyone asks I gave you permission Toshiro and I specifically said that this would be on my shoulders._"

The small taicho sat up, the corners of his mouth twisting up in frustration. "I don't want to get you in trouble though!"

"_Don't worry about it. There is one thing that I've always wanted for you, something that I can't buy off a store shelf. Something I might add isn't easy for you to come by. I think you need more then anything friends, particularly ones your age. You spend way to much time with us older shinigami that you've forgotten what its like to be someone your age._"

"But..."

"_You know what. I'll go and tell Yamamoto I gave you permission. Make yourself a couple of friends. I think it's an important step to you getting to come home, so don't pass it up._"

"But..."

"_If this is about the fact you may eventually lose them, that is another part of life. You lose friends as time progresses. It is a fact of life. You've not had to deal much with death. Your taicho and Kaien, but that has been about it. I'll get back to you... or the head captain may call and speak with you._"

The phone clicked off and Toshiro found himself flopping onto the bed and closing his eyes in frustration. "_I can't tell him taicho's not dead, so he doesn't count!_"

The door opened and a voice came from the door. "Toshiro... just to remind you, you need to do your make up work."

"Thanks..." The door clicked shut and he went and fetched the work just as Ichigo came and sat on his bed to do his own homework.

"Next week Toshiro, you should be able to have some really nice math to do."

"That..." The phone rang and the boy picked up the phone.

"_Do I __have__ to give you the order to make yourself some friends for you to go and make friends Hitsugaya Taicho?_"

"Head captain!" Toshiro let out a yelp. "No sir. I'll speak to you later."

The phone clicked up and he turned to see that Ichigo had an eyebrow raised up. "What did he want?"

"He gave me the order to make friends."

"Why would he have to give you that kind of order? That should go without saying..." Ichigo took a deep breath. "It doesn't go without saying for you, does it?"

"Shut up."


	31. Another Day

**Understanding II: School Daze  
~Another Day******

The next morning Toshiro woke up and placed an arm over his eyes before letting out a deep sigh of frustration. "_It's going to be another boring day, isn't it?_"

"_I'm not sure why you're complaining. Everyday has been a boring day for you as all you ever do is paperwork, or work on your training to become stronger. Things were a whole lot more interesting when your former taicho was around._"

"_I wish he could come to class as well._"

"_No you don't. You know full well that while he would make things interesting he would also embarrass you. Now get up and get ready for school._"

Toshiro sat up and looked down at the ground at Ichigo before removing the covers from his legs and heading over to the cupboard in order to get dressed. He then began to pack his school things into the bag. At one point he glanced over at Ichigo, surprised that the substitute shinigami was still asleep. "_You really shouldn't be surprised. He is your taicho's son._"

Toshiro swung the bag over his shoulder and headed down the stairs. He glanced over at the kitchen and saw that Yuzu was busy cooking breakfast. She glanced up when she saw him. "Oh! Toshiro-kun!" The boy paused for a few seconds before shaking his head at her. The next thing he knew a container was being shoved at him. "Your lunch."

"_Well... you can look forward to whatever Yuzu's made for you._"

"About yesterday..." Toshiro looked at the lunch.

"No. It's alright. Dad's right, take your time if your not used to being friends."

"No." The boy set the bag and the box onto the table before taking a deep bow. "I would like to be friends, but honestly don't know how. Please be patient with me."

There was a silence from Yuzu as he remained bowed to the ground. Finally the brown haired twin spoke up. "Umm... Toshiro-kun? Isn't that a bit old fashioned?"

"_Old fashioned?_" The small taicho felt his cheeks flush up. He quickly went to sit on the couch, remaining quite as he did so.

"_It is rather old fashioned._"

"_How would you know?_"

"_Because I talk like that._"

"_Then can I assume that its your fault because you taught me to speak like that?_"

"_Your granny taught us to speak like that. It just means that you're a well mannered young man. If anyone asks, you were raised by a very wonderful woman. Simple, right?_"

"_It can't be that simple._"

A sound came from the stairs and Toshiro glanced over the edge of the couch to see his former taicho coming down the stairs. He narrowed his eyes at the man, biting his lip. The man saw him and hurried over, plopping down and wrapping his arm around the boy's shoulder. "How are you doing?"

"Fine..." The boy stood up, pushing the man's arm away as he did so. He then began to pace until Yuzu began to put food onto the table. It was then that Karin and Ichigo came down stairs. Toshiro carefully buttered his toast while Yuzu shoveled food onto his place. He found himself pausing and looking at the food, his frown deepening. "I don't need..."

"Don't be modest Your skin and bones, aren't you."

Toshiro flinched, his stomach suddenly doing a flip. He glanced down at his toast and continued buttering it.

"She's right Toshiro. You need to eat more." Isshin spoke up.

"_Your taicho is being serious._"

"_I know he is._"

"I think perhaps we should talk about this when you get back from class."

"_Crap. I forgot that he can be a pain in the neck about my health. I'm perfectly fine the way I am._"

"_No your not. How much have you eaten since you've been here?_"

"_Enough?_"

"_No... not enough._"

"_I can't eat that much and go to school! I mean, that would require Yuzu getting up earlier to cook food. I hate being a slow eater._"

"_You could eat faster. And not have conversations with me while staring off into space._"

"_Crap again!" _Toshiro snapped out of his daze only to find that Yuzu had managed to shove more food onto his plate. Glancing at the clock he knew he would only be able to get a few bites in. He set the toast aside as he knew he could eat it on the go and took those bites before grabbing it again to hurry after Karin as she left.

"Wait..."

"We'll figure something out this evening Yuzu." Isshin place a hand on his chin. "Pack him a bigger bento tomorrow."

Toshiro kept in step with Karin as he bit into the toast. He paused his eating for a few seconds. "Why did your sister react the way I did when I said I would like to be friends, but I don't know how to be friends so I asked her to be patient with me."

"Toshiro... you're not from my grandfather's generation."

"Do you even no your grandfather?"

"No... but you're not from that generation."

"Technically I am..." The words came out of his mouth and he found himself shoving the partially eaten toast into his mouth.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I was raised by my granny, but I'm also over fifty years old at least." Toshiro found himself shoving the toast into his mouth again as he looked up at the sky. "_Why do I get the felling this conversation isn't going well. Why the hell am I nervous about this conversation in the first place. She told me that she wants to __be__ my friend._"

"_I know why._"

"_Great... this is just stupid._"

"Toshiro..." The boy's head darted up to look her in the face. "Why do you look like you're my age and should I be concerned."

"_Hell! She thinks I'm an old pervert in a kid's body!_" The small taicho took a deep breath. "We age differently in Soul Society."

"Hmm... so technically you're not any older then me."

"How is _that_ supposed to work."

"It does."

"Does not."

"Does too."

"Does... never mind."


	32. School Again

**Understanding II: School Daze  
~School Again******

"Does... never mind." The white haired preteen glanced away, his bright teal eyes narrowing with frustration. "_What is it with female anyways and the way in which the confound people. Do all of them have an agenda against males in general like Ise does? I can understand directing anger at myself, but I can't comprehend for the life of me why they get mad at males for some of the things they get mad at._"

"_Karin-chan isn't mad at you._"

"_I know that... still... I don't get it._"

"_You don't get most people._"

"Toshiro..." The female in question's voice broke him from the conversation he was having with his zampaktuo.

"_We'll continue this conversation later._"

"_If you don't forget it just because you don't want to remember it occurring._"

"_What is that... never mind._" The boy turned to Karin. "Yes?"

"We're at school."

"Oh..." The boy let out a deep sigh, knowing full well that going into the building and sitting for hours doing nothing productive was going to eat away at him. This to him felt like the real punishment, the real goal everyone had in mind. "_I can't __wait__ to get back to Soul Society._"

Four boys came hurrying up to them, one of them pushing up his glasses. "Karin-chan!"

"Karin...chan..." Toshiro looked at the boy, his eyes widening in confusion.

"Um..." The four fell silent.

"Toshiro's going to be playing soccer with us after school."

"What!"

"But..."

"Why do you attach chan to the end of Kurosaki's name instead of san?" Toshiro's mind remained focused on the one train of thought, only to suddenly realize what Karin had said. "Wait... what? Soccer?"

"Yeah. Soccer." Karin piped up, turning her head to smile at him, her hair moving with her energetic movement."

"You've got to be kidding me."

"Insult Karin by adding san to her name?"

"But she obviously can beat all four of you up." The words slipped out of the child taicho's mouth. The four boys stared at Toshiro before suddenly saying they forgot something.

"Toshiro... why did you have to bring that up?" His female companion let out a deep sigh.

"It doesn't make sense. I wouldn't be caught dead adding chan to any of the female Shinigami's names."

"Says the person who as far as I can tell not used anyone's first name until now and that was only because you were repeating what they said."

The boy's eye's widened upon realization. He quickly turned towards her and bowed. "Gomenasai!"

"Toshiro... what..." The girl quickly grabbed his shirt and pulled him out of view. "What are you doing? You don't have to apologize to me. I already _told_ you I want to be your friend. That means you _can_ call me by your first name."

"That..." The boy glanced away, his bright teal eyes darting to the wall. "When do you think Kurosaki will be here?"

"Yuzu?" Karin shook her head in disbelief.

"What other Kurosaki would I be talking about?"

"There is my brother, my sister, my father, my mother plus my ancestral tree."

"Through your mothers line, right?"

"What?"

"You..." Toshiro stared at her. "Haven't you met your mother's parents?"

"What kind of question is that?"

"Eh..." This caused the boy to bow again. "I'm sorry. I really blundered there." As he bowed he noticed that her foot was tapping in irritation. "I'm really sorry that I upset you."

"Upset me?"

"_You haven't upset her._"

"_Then why the hell is she acting like she's mad at me._" Toshiro moved to a standing position, the corner of his mouth twisting.

"Toshiro... do you call _everyone _by their last name."

"Everyone except my granny."

"And what do you call her?"

"Granny. Where is this going?" The male preteen folded his arms. "When I was little she always told me to never, ever call people by their first name."

"What about the other kids?"

The boy's mouth twitched again. "What other kids? The only other person who talked to me as a child was Hinamori and after she left to become a Shinigami we grew distant. Not to mention... well, that is neither here nor there."

"If you had actually played with other kids your age you would know it is all right to call other kids by their first name." Karin's comments was met first with silence and then the white haired male turned his head to look away from her.

"That's honestly not my fault."

"I didn't say it was."

Toshiro glanced away, his mouth tightening. He continued to do this as he followed Karin to their classroom. When he sat down at his desk he closed his eyes trying to close off the things around him while his mouth remained tightened from the level of frustration he was feeling. The sound of hands touching the front part of his desk caused his eyes to open.

Instead of seeing Karin or Yuzu standing there he saw the girl who had identified herself as Nabara Yami the other day. With her was her group of friends. His teal eyes darted around looking for Karin who simply glared at Nabara. "Can I help you?"

"We stopped by the hospital yesterday, but they said you were checked out all ready."

The thought of hiding crossed Toshiro's mind suddenly as his cheeks heated up. "Why?"

"You're our classmate."

"_Yeah... sure. There is something more to this. I may never have gone to a public school before, but people don't visit you just because they're your classmate. They'll visit you if they're friends or want to be friends..._" This thought caused Toshiro to swallow hard. He glanced over at Karin only to see that she was still glaring at Nabara. He then turned to look out the window. "_I can't rely on her to help me just because I'm... what is the word for it?"_

The sound of a desk moving a bit across the floor was suddenly heard. "Nabara, in case you haven't noticed you're making Toshiro feel uncomfortable."

"As I told him, we just wanted to visit him at the hospital yesterday because we're classmates. Since we weren't able to see you we made you cookies instead." Nabara set a bag onto his desk.

The boy looked at it, frowning as he did so. "Thank you..."

"Are you going to eat them now?"

Toshiro's eyes blinked before looking at the girl in confusion. "Wouldn't it be rude to eat them in front of everyone?"

The female's cheeks heated up. "Well, yes... of course. I'll... um..."

Karin watched with him as Nabara took off with her group only to see them giggle.


End file.
